Friendly Fire
by noneee
Summary: When Akamaru dies on a mission, Kiba has trouble dealing with the loss. Will he ever be able to recover? Kiba and Team 8 fic Please Read!
1. Prologue

A/N: Well I had this start to a fic on my computer from a while back and I decided to finish this prologue type chapter becuase I couldn't sleep last night. So, please read and review, I'd really like to know what everyone thinks. I really don't like the name right now so most likely it will change if I continue this. Sorry in advance for any gramatical errors.

Oh yeah, I don't own Naruto/any of its characters.

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**Friendly Fire**

_What the hell happened?_ Kiba's ears were ringing and his vision was out of focus and blurred. He was disoriented. One second he had been bounding from branch to branch through the forest and the next he was on the ground, wood splinters and shrapnel falling down around him. Kiba tried to reorient himself, bringing himself onto his knees, wiping dirt from his eyes and face so he could see.

Kiba could hear voices off in the distance but couldn't make out who they were, his hearing not completely back yet. Kiba heard a whimpering a short distance away. _Akamaru!_ Instantly springing to his feet, Kiba's eyes manically searched the premise for any sign of his giant white dog that moments ago had been happily traveling at Kiba's side.

The whimpering continued as Kiba continued to frantically look for his dog. Taking a few steps towards the sound of the whimpering Kiba cringed as a sharp pain ran up his leg. Looking down, Kiba discovered his leg had been mangled with several wooden splinters protruding from it. Biting his lip, Kiba reached down pulling some of the larger chunks of wood from his leg. _Shit, I think it's broken._ Now that most of the splinters had been removed Kiba reached into his back pouch and pulled out some bandage to wrap his leg with.

A whimper in the distance made Kiba drop the partially applied bandage; cursing under his breath Kiba limped towards the noise, his leg would have to wait; he had to find Akamaru first. Akamaru couldn't be very far away, he had been right at Kiba's side just moments ago. Approaching the sound Kiba was able to start making out the outline of his dog lying relatively motionless on the ground, the only signs of life being the occasional cry he let out. The site of his dog lying helpless on the ground made adrenaline pump through Kiba's veins, causing him to temporarily forget the shooting pain in his leg.

After reaching within 20 meters of his giant dog, Kiba realized that other people had already reached Akamaru before him. Two men stood over the dog, saying something indistinguishable to Kiba, his ears still ringing from before. _Who the hell are those people and what the hell did they do to Akamaru!_ Kiba quickly concentrated some chakra to his nose and started to sniff the air in hopes of finding out the identities of the two men standing over his helpless best friend. The scents that returned to his nose were of two unknown men and one that made his heart skip a beat; the strong scent of Akamaru's blood.

Even though he was in no condition to fight if the two unknown men turned out to be enemies, common sense temporarily deserted Kiba and he rushed even closer to the scene. When Kiba came within 10 meters of the scene, the two unknown men finally detected his presence and drew what appeared to be kunai's from their side holster while muttering some words to each other. Before Kiba knew what was happening the two men had charged, simultaneously throwing their kunai directly at Kiba's chest.

By instinct Kiba drew his own kunai and easily deflected the oncoming ones while preparing for the enemies next attack. When one of the enemy reached Kiba he threw a punch attempting to catch Kiba in the jaw but Kiba easily ducked under the blow and went to parry, throwing a jab into the enemies side. Whoever these people were they didn't appear to be strong if they allowed themselves to be hit so easily.

The next enemy now approached Kiba and attempted to place a kick in Kiba's side. Again, Kiba easily blocked the kick and took a small step back preparing for the enemies next attack. The enemy's next kick was lower, around Kiba's knees trying to knock him the ground. Reflexively Kiba tried to jump over the kick but when he did a sharp pain shot up his right leg making him cringe and freeze for a second. The kick connected with his legs and knocked Kiba face first onto the ground.

Cursing himself for being hit so easily Kiba attempted to get to himself to his feet before the enemy could get in another attack but a foot slamming into his back pinned him to the ground. _Shit, I can't loose to these weaklings, I have to make sure Akamaru is okay._ Glancing sideways, Kiba got a view of his giant dog lying weakly on the ground, now staring at Kiba and struggling to get to his feet to come to his masters aid.

The site of his dog in such a sad state gave Kiba new energy and before the enemy knew what had happened Kiba had forced his way out from under his foot knocking him down in the process. As the enemy fell towards the ground Kiba lifted up his arm above the falling enemy and slammed his elbow down into the falling mans gut. Blood flew from the enemy's mouth and his eyes rolled back into his head as he lost consciousness.

Breathing heavily Kiba forced himself onto his feet and slowly made his way to Akamaru who now had managed to shakily stand up.

"Akamaru! Are you okay?" Kiba worriedly asked, petting his dog and checking for any serious injuries. Akamaru whined again. He had several large gashes across his body and most likely had several broken bones and torn muscles in his legs. "Don't worry buddy, I'm going to get you out of here, it's going to be okay, I'll protect you." Kiba was worried now; he was in no shape to carry Akamaru back on his own with his injuries. Frantically he searched around the area trying to find any sign of his team who had been just a short distance behind him before but he couldn't see or smell them at all.

Akamaru whined again slightly trying to communicate something to Kiba but started to gag slightly, coughing trying to clear his throat. "What did you say Akamaru? People? People what? Do you small the others?" Kiba asked Akamaru who had just said something about people but hadn't been able to finish because of his coughing fit.

Suddenly Kiba detected a presence behind him but too late and turned around to discover a swarm of kunai and shuriken hurtling straight towards him…

xx

"Sakura, there's no need to be so mean," Naruto whined, rubbing the large bump on his head caused by a particularly nasty hit from Sakura.

"Look I told you I'm not going on a date with you. Not only is that disgusting but I have to go train with Tsunade anyway," Sakura said still rather annoyed by Naruto pestering her so much to go eat ramen with him.

Sakura continued to walk towards the hospital with Naruto still close behind not giving up. To be honest, she had started to gain some more respect for Naruto since he had returned after his two and a half years of training with Jiraya, but she still far from liked him enough to go on a date with him.

After another couple minutes of walking the hospital came into view and Sakura breathed a sigh of relief, finally close to ridding herself of Naruto and his nonstop blabbering. Suddenly Naruto gasped and stopped moving, something behind them catching his attention. Sakura turned around and gasped at what she saw.

"What the hell happened…?" Sakura whispered in disbelief at the approaching scene.

xx

Kiba woke, his entire body in pain and his head pounding. Slightly opening his eyes only intensified his horrible headache, the bright white florescent lights burning his eyes.

_What the hell happened?_ Kiba tried to move but couldn't, almost his entire body was bound by bandages and any attempt at movement sent sharp pains up and down him. Several people could be heard moving around him but he couldn't tell who, his senses not completely recovered yet. Based on the bandages, the bright lights and the warm bed he was laying in Kiba figured he was in the hospital. The hospital wasn't exactly a foreign place to Kiba, he'd spend more time here in his short life then he would like to have admitted.

Slowly starting to gain consciousness more and more, Kiba tried to remember what had happened. The last thing he remembered was beating the two men and then checking on Akamaru…

_Akamaru!_ The thought of his dog instantly made Kiba come back to full consciousness, his eyes shot open and tried to lift himself up into a sitting position but instantly fell back down when the sudden movement shot pain through his body and made his head spin.

Kiba heard the few people in the room instantly shoot to the side of the bed after noticing Kiba's return to consciousness. Kiba heard his mom worriedly asking how he felt and if he was ok and a doctor hooking up an IV drip into his arm trying to subdue him. Kiba tried to talk but couldn't, his head still swimming from before. He slowly scanned the room for any sign of his dog but didn't see one and he started to get worried.

"W-where is Akamaru…?" Kiba finally asked after regaining enough energy. There was no response. Kiba looked to his mother, who was looking at the floor away from Kiba and his sister who he just had noticed was in the room and who was looking solemnly out the window. "Where is Akamaru!? He's ok isn't he!?" Kiba yelled, no becoming distressed by his families lack of a response. Slowly lifting his arm, Kiba started to pull the IV drip from his arm and a strap that was holding him in the place on the bed.

"Stop moving, you're only going to make it worse," a doctor, who Kiba now recognized as Sakura, warned, forcefully gripping Kiba's arm and returning the IV drip.

"I-I have to see Akamaru, where is he…?" Kiba whispered, starting to fear the worst. "Where is he?!"

xx

The sun beat down brilliantly from the cloudless sky, warming everyone standing on the ground below. It was a warm and serene spring day in Konoha and everyone in the town was going about business as usual; everyone but the people of the Inuzuka clan. Solemnly, they all gathered on the northern most edge of their compound at the border of a forest. Dressed in all black, the clan members all hung their heads in prayer as they said good bye to one of their members.

Having a Nin dog die was just like having one of their human members die to the clan. Whenever a member, whether human or dog, died, there would be a ceremony for the clan at this place, the deceased ones ashes spread into the forest or buried in the ground per families request and their name carved into a giant granite slab.

Kiba's whole body shook, his eyes watering, as he stared at the newest carving on the clans grave stone. His mom and sister had insisted he say a few words but Kiba had declined, he didn't think he would be able to muster any words and did not want to appear weak in front of the clan. His family had insisted that they would understand if he wasn't able to say much but in the end Kiba had still declined.

After the services had ended, Kiba slowly made his way back to his house unable to stay at the grave stone anymore. Pain shot up and down his body, making it difficult to stand up, even when relying heavily on his crutch. No matter how painful his body felt on the outside it was nothing to what he was feeling inside. He couldn't deal with this. Kiba had grown up with Akamaru since he was a little boy and he didn't think he would be able to go on without his dog. Kiba had fought with and protected Akamaru as best he could but when Akamaru needed him to be strongest Kiba had failed, he was too weak.

There has to be something that can get rid of this pain. He can't deal with this right now. The pain in Kiba's body was unbearable; he had to get rid of it somehow. Reaching his house after several painful minutes Kiba grabbed a small orange bottle from the counter he had been given when he was released from the hospital. With shaking hands he opened the bottle and poured a couple of the white pills I contained on the counter. Kiba didn't know exactly what the pills were but they looked familiar and the doctors had told him that he should take one if the pain became too much.

The pain was definitely too much, so Kiba placed two of the pills on the back of his tongue and swallowed them both in one gulp.

Everything is numb now. His leg, his body, his mind. Falling down on his bed Kiba started to drift off to sleep. The pills were starting to slow down his heartbeat, his breathing—his mind. This felt good. Kiba wanted to always feel like this. He was starting to become somewhat delusional. The world was spinning around him; the walls and ceiling of his room were becoming distant. The room is spinning now, tilting up and down. It starting to become sort of dizzying and Kiba groaned as his vision started to tunnel and consciousness started to slip away.

This was good. Everything is disappearing. Limbs are heavy and numb; body becoming vacant. Kiba could almost feel Akamaru lying next to him like he always used to, curled up in a ball at the foot of the bed. Smiling with this delusion, Kiba lost consciousness and drifted off.

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Hope you guys liked it, please review! Story is going to get some more depth to it, its not just going to be some angsty crap. And again, sorry if I made any spelling or gramatical errors, I didn't proof read much.  



	2. Cause and Effect

a/n: Ok well here is chapter 2 for those who may care :). As always please review even if its to just say you read it.

Oh yeah, and I don't own Naruto or any of its charachters.

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Chapter 1: Cause and Effect

In the training grounds Shino, Hinata and Kurenai stood solemnly around were the team usually had met. Most likely they would no be training today, still too hurt by the loss of one of their teammates, even if that teammate had been a dog. They were all worried about Kiba although they all showed it differently. Well, Shino didn't really have any emotion at all but silently he was hoping Kiba would get over this incident enough to get back to training. Hinata was more emotional and she had started crying in Kurenai's arms several times.

They had tried several times to go and talk to Kiba but each time he has declined there company and had just stayed in his room. While they understood how Kiba felt, they still hoped that he wouldn't do anything to brash. They had all brought some things to try and comfort Kiba like jerky, his favorite food, and other miscellaneous items, but in the end just had to leave them with Kiba's Mom and Sister who insisted they would give them to Kiba later. It was fairly obvious that Kiba wouldn't even talk to them, which was obviously hurting them as well.

"Do you think he'll be ok?" Hinata asked her team, sitting on a log in the training ground. She had asked this many times before and the answer was always the same reassuring nod from her 2 teammates, but Hinata being as insecure as she was always had to be reassured Kiba would be fine.

A few minutes after Hinata's question Shino decided to break the awkward silence that had encompassed them after. "How do you think it happened?" Shino asked in a monotone voice.

"What do you mean, Shino?" Kurenai responded, confused by the question.

"I mean, how did Kiba get caught in such a basic trap? When we arrived at the scene I inspected the traps that Kiba had tripped and they were rather simple and not at all concealed," Shino explained. "It is something Kiba easily should have been able to catch and avoid, and yet he didn't."

xx

Kiba lied in his bed starring at the ceiling. He hadn't been out of his room much in the past week. He had only left a couple times to go to the bathroom or get food—or painkillers. It had been 10 hours since the last time he had eaten or taken any medicine and Kiba's body was starting to ache and hurt again. His leg was still pretty severely mangled and the doctors had insisted that he go back to the hospital so they could check up on it but Kiba had again refused.

Kiba reached over to his night stand on the side of his bed and grabbed the orange bottle of painkillers that had been his best friend over the past week or so. He didn't think he should be taking so many, as they were incredibly strong and he was instructed to only take them if the physical pain became too unbearable. But every time he didn't take one for a long period of time his head started to clear and he started to think again. This was never a good thing as his thoughts always immediately went back to Akamaru, and thinking about his best friend became too painful. Every time this happened Kiba just lied to himself and took a few more of the pills, saying that he only took them because the pain in his leg was too much. In fact the pain wasn't too bad anymore and something Kiba could easily deal with, being used to pain from the many injuries he had sustained as a ninja. So Kiba lied to himself and took the pills, letting the strong drugs cloud his mind and let him forget for a little longer.

Lying to himself again Kiba opened the bottle and sighed as he realized there were only a few pills left. He took out two of them and rolled them around on his palm. Kiba hesitated a second, knowing that when all these pills were gone he wouldn't be able to get anymore; the doctors would know he didn't need them. Holding his hand up to his mouth Kiba was about to swallow the pills when he heard a knock on the front door.

Kiba lowered his hand, at least wanting to know who had come, not that he would talk to them anyway. His teammates and several of his other friends throughout the village had come to try and talk to him several times, but Kiba just wasn't ready to talk to any of them. He needed to get through this on his own; in Kiba's mind, he didn't deserve any help. It hurt Kiba to turn away all these people that just wanted to help him; but still in Kiba's mind, this was all his fault so he had to deal with it alone.

In the houses entry way, Hana and Tsume, Kiba's sister and mother respectively, opened the door to greet the visitor. Kiba strained his ears, trying to hear who was at the door. "Good morning," said the very distinctive voice of Tsunade, "May I come in and have a word with you and your son."

Kiba cursed under his breath. He wouldn't be able to tell the Hokage to just go away. Kiba heard his mom coming towards his room so he grudgingly shoved the pills back in the bottle and grabbed his crutch so he could stand up and head towards the door. Reaching the door, Kiba turned around and was about to instruct Akamaru to follow when reality hit again. Choking back tears Kiba tried to recompose himself so as not to have a break down in front of everyone. Kiba had managed to compose himself just barely enough to stop himself from breaking into tears when his mother reached his room and asked Kiba to join them in the kitchen.

In the kitchen the Hokage and Hana sat at the table quietly talking. Around them on the ground were several of the family's dogs lying around or eating. A couple of them approached Kiba but got no response as the injured dog nin walked past them.

As Kiba reached the table the Hokage and Hana quietly greeted Kiba who just nodded a and sat down at the chair farthest away from; starring straight down at the table. Kiba wasn't looking forward to the oncoming conversation; knowing that whatever it was the Hokage wanted, he probably wouldn't want to hear it.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Tsunade started. Already she was off to a bad start. Kiba didn't want to hear peoples pity for him. After a long pause the Hokage continued. "But...you're going to need to start to move on. Locking yourself in your room is not the best way to deal with this. We need you to come back to the hospital so we can finish fixing your leg so you can start training again. I understand how you feel right now, but you have to start to move on. Even if you just want to ignore everything around you that's happening the world isn't going to stop for you. These are very tense times and we need all the Shinobi we can get. Especially a strong Chuunin like yourself."

Even though deep down Kiba knew what the Hokage said was true he still didn't want to listen. To Kiba, all of this was his fault and he didn't deserve to get better. He was worthless, especially without Akamaru.

"So expect to see you at the hospital tomorrow morning," Tsunade continued, "you can go and rest now."

Kiba nodded his head and obliged with the women's command. He wasn't in the mood to try and argue with someone like her right now. Slowly making his way back to his room using his crutch for support, Kiba fell onto his bed, starring at the ceiling and mind racing. Kiba started thinking about everything that had happened and was happening. When his thoughts quickly made their way back to Akamaru, he tried to shut down and stop thinking, not being able to handle the pain of thinking about his best friend.

Not being able to shut his mind down Kiba reached over to his night stand and took out the two pills he was about to take before he was interrupted. Dropping them in his mouth Kiba let them sit on his tongue for a second before swallowing. He used this one last second to give one actual serious thought about what he was going to do. Kiba didn't feel like he deserved to be a ninja anymore, but he didn't know what else he could do, having been one his entire life and loving it almost all of the time.

Before he had too much time to think this over the drugs started to kick in and Kiba could feel his whole body start to go numb. His mind started to cloud and his vision started to blur. Slowly, Kiba drifted off into unconsciousness again.

xx

Back in the kitchen, Tsunade and Kiba's family continued to talk quietly.

"There is one more thing I would like to ask you before I leave," The Hokage informed. "Have you noticed anything strange with Kiba's behavior before this incident happened?"

Hana and Tsume both looked inquisitively at the older women. "No, not really," Tsume responded, still confused about why Kiba would start acting strange before, "There wasn't anything I noticed that was different about his behavior although seeing as we are all ninja, there are long stretches when we don't see each other because of missions. Why do you ask?"

"Well it's just that when Kiba was first brought to the hospital we did a standard blood test to insure that there were no poisons or infections from the injury," Tsunade began, "And when we tested Kiba's blood we found a rather high blood alcohol content as well as high levels of THC."

xx

Shino, Hinata and Kurenai walked slowly away from the Inuzuka compound. They had just visited Kiba's house again hoping that maybe he would finally speak to them but this time his mother had told them he was sleeping.

She also asked them a couple of strange questions. She had asked them if they had noticed anything different in Kiba's behavior in the week or so before Akamaru's death and if they had ever seen him doing anything that he normally didn't.

They all walked in silence for a while, trying to think of any way that Kiba was acting differently. None of them could think of anything. He was just as happy and upbeat as he always was leading up to the event. In fact at times he possibly was even a little more hyperactive and dumb, for a lack of a better word, then normal.

"Do you think this has anything to do with that solo mission Kiba went on about a week before this happened," Shino asked, trying to think of something that would make Kiba act strange.

"Kiba goes on a lot of missions alone," Kurenai responded. "Is there any one mission in particular you're thinking of?"

"Well, about a week prior to the incident," Shino started. "Kiba returned from a mission and when I inquired as to what the problem was he said it was nothing and went home."

"I never saw him depressed or anything like that around then," Kurenai responded, trying to think what it could have been on that mission that would make Kiba act strange.

"After that first time I talked to him he seemed to go back to normal. It was probably nothing; he was most likely just a little tired." Shino quickly said, decided it was best not to get his team worried anymore then they already were about Kiba.

Shino was sure, though, that something had happened on that mission. Kiba wasn't one to act so depressed for no reason, and when Shino had talked to Kiba after that mission he didn't seem to just be normally depressed because maybe he was tired or did a poor job on the mission. He seemed almost confused and angry at himself, something Shino had never seen Kiba act like. Shino was now determined to find out what had happened on that mission.

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Hope you liked it :). I was gonna write more for this chapter but decided to just post this now becuase it seemed like a decent stopping point. As always, please review!!

And sorry for any gramatical or spelling errors, I tryed to get them all out but I may have missed some.


	3. Amnesia

Well here's the next chapter to my fic. Took a little longer to write because I actually was pretty busy for the last few days but I managed to finish it up. It a little longer then the other chapters though, so thats a plus :).

Thanks to everyone that has reviewed and read so far! Hopefully some more people will review this time as I would like some feedback, so everyone, please review so that I atleast know you read!

I don't own Naruto or any of the charachters, blah blah blah.

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Chapter 2: Amnesia 

The streets of Konoha were rather busy on this morning. Many people walking up and down the dirt roads going about their normal business. The sky was covered in dark clouds, rain most likely only a few hours away.

Kiba limped slowly down the side of the street, eyes trained on the ground, hoping not to run into anyone that may want to start a conversation. He was on his way to the hospital right now per the Hokage's orders. He hadn't wanted to go, but it would be pointless to try and argue with the Hokage about it. It would only make it worse if he forced the old lady to drag him there like a little kid.

Kiba cringed as he accidentally put too much weight on his bad leg. He had now completely run out of the pain killers since yesterday and the effects had almost completely worn off. He didn't like this feeling right now. His whole body ached and he was starting to be able to think clearly. This only lead to bad things as his thoughts quickly went to Akamaru and the last weeks he had been with him.

Kiba could also swear that his leg was actually starting to hurt more. Maybe it was the fact that he was so used to having the pain numbed by one type of painkiller or another, but the pain still felt worse then he had remembered it feeling during the times when he had had no painkillers. Kiba hoped that maybe they would give him some more painkillers at the hospital, not wanting to deal with this pain.

Arriving at the hospital, Kiba checked in with the receptionist and headed to the waiting room. He only had to wait a couple minutes before a nurse called him into another room where the Hokage was waiting for him. Kiba guessed he should probably be glad that the Hokage herself was going to be helping him but still couldn't help but feel a little cynical; feeling like he didn't even deserve any help.

The appointment went well enough. Tsunade really was incredible with her healing skills. She took a few X-rays of Kiba's leg and determined that it still had some minor fractures that they had not healed before and in less then an hour she had almost completely repaired the bones and re-bandaged Kiba's leg.

It was a good thing that the Hokage wasn't one to try and make small talk while she was working on a patient because Kiba wasn't in the mood for talking. When Tsunade was done fixing Kiba's leg and checking for anything else physically that may be wrong she turned to Kiba and said her first words to Kiba since she had started working on him.

"Your leg is pretty much healed now. I still recommend that you don't put too much strain on it for the next week or so but there shouldn't be any more problems, the injury wasn't too severe so it should be fine." Tsunade paused for a second, trying to think of what she should say to the troubled boy. "You should be able to get back to training no later then 3 weeks from now," she paused again, "do you think you're ready for that?"

Kiba remained silent. He really didn't know if he would be ready to go back to fighting. After everything that had happened Kiba had started to get the idea that he was too weak to go back. He didn't even know how he would fight without Akamaru there on his side. Kiba decided to just ignore this question for now; he wouldn't have to make a decision for at least another 3 weeks and decided to change the topic.

"Umm, do you think I could have some more painkillers for my leg?" Kiba asked quietly.

Tsunade looked at Kiba blankly and frowned. "You should be fine now. You're almost completely healed there shouldn't be much pain left and if there is just take a couple aspirin and that should be able to fix it. There's no reason to take anything stronger."

Kiba nodded silently and looked at the ground. He hoped she wouldn't ask any questions, he just wanted to leave now. But much to Kiba's dismay his visit wasn't over yet.

"I'm all done here and I have a lot of work to do so I'm going to get going but there is one more person who would like to talk to you before you leave," The Hokage said as she proceeded to leave the room shutting the door behind her.

This confused Kiba. Who else would have to see him now? He expected that it was most likely his teammates or some of his friends but when the door opened again to Kiba's surprise and unfamiliar figure walked through the door. It was women dressed in something similar to what the others doctors and nurses wore here but she didn't seem to be a medic like any of them.

"Hi, you must be Kiba." She said, offering her hand for Kiba to shake; which Kiba did although rather weakly. "I'm a psychologist."

Kiba frowned; he knew this wasn't going to be pleasant. He hadn't even wanted to come here to get cured and now this woman was going to try to talk to Kiba about his _feelings_ or some crap like that. Kiba was somewhat expecting this though. Seeing as he lived in a hidden village were fighting and death wasn't uncommon there were several psychologists here to make sure that no one went crazy. Even is he was expecting this though, didn't mean he would be any more willing to cooperate.

"I'm sorry, but I don't want to talk," Kiba said bitterly as he tried to stand up and leave the room. The Hokage wasn't here anymore so he had no reason to listen to whatever this psychologist might say. This was futile though as the psychologist easily beat the inured Kiba to the door, locking it and placing a chair in front of it which she then sat down in crossing her legs and looking back at Kiba.

A low growl came from Kiba's throat but he sat back down anyway, figuring fighting his way past this woman wouldn't be the smartest thing to do. The psychologist smirked but didn't say anything instead just sort of stared at Kiba. This made Kiba nervous so he tried to avoid eye contact with her and instead just trained his eyes on his feet.

"Look, I know you don't want to talk with me, but I think it will help you a little to talk to someone," the psychologist said in this strangely calm voice.

"I said I don't want to talk," Kiba retorted bitterly, still looking down at his feet.

"Well, despite what you obviously think, I'm here to help you, and I think we should talk," the women responded, still very calm. "It will help you to talk about this a little. I've seen many people like you who have just become bitter and angry or tried to deny a tragedy and they always feel much better once they start talking about it and try and get past it."

"For the last time, we're not talking," Kiba said still bitter. What did she expect him to do anyway? Break down in tears and cry in her arms? Why would he ever share any of this with this woman he had never met?

"And for the last time, yes you are going to talk with me. I don't care if you don't want to talk about anything too painful but you are going to talk," The psychologist said. "So do you remember anything happened on that day? I have been informed of approximately what occurred by your teammates."

Hadn't this bitch said she wouldn't talk about anything too painful? Kiba was about to come back with a rather snide remark when he realized something. He didn't remember much of what had happened. He remembered somehow tripping a trap and being separated from Akamaru. He remembered fighting and beating two men and then another two standing over his best friend. But other then that he didn't know what had happened at all. The last thing he had remembered was seeing a swarm of weapons coming straight at him and nothing else. What had happened? The weapons had obviously not hit him as he was still here but then who had stopped them? Kiba couldn't even remember what the men had looked like.

And on top of that, if someone had saved him, presumably his team, then why did they not save Akamaru? The more Kiba thought about this the more anxious he became. He had never thought about what had happened this way before. Kiba dug his nails deep into his palm realizing he didn't even know how Akamaru had died and he didn't even remember it happening. This was all his fault; everything was always his fault. He was too weak to protect Akamaru even after he had promised him so many times that he would be.

The more Kiba thought about this the deeper he dug his nails into his palms until there was a steady stream of blood coming from them. The more he tried to remember what happened the more he remembered what had happened the week before and how miserable he had made Akamaru's last week. And now that he was thinking about the week prior he realized he could barely remember any of that. Kiba could feel his eyes starting to burn, his vision becoming distorted from the tears that were forming in his eyes.

The psychologist now came over besides Kiba and put her arm on his shoulder trying to comfort him. Hadn't Kiba just told himself this is exactly what wouldn't happen here? He had barely said a word to her and already he had become so overwhelmed he could barely hold back the tears.

"It's okay, this is obviously very painful for you, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," the psychologist said as she continued to gently rub Kiba's back. Had this been her plan? To just force Kiba to think about what had happened to try and help him start to get over it? If it was it wasn't working because it was just making Kiba more and more depressed.

"I don't even remember what happened," Kiba said barely audibly, "It's all my fault."

The psychologist didn't respond for a second, she just continued to rub Kiba's back trying to comfort him. "It's okay, it's not your fault; you did everything you could. It isn't going to help if you try and keep all the blame."

Kiba continued digging his nails in his palm. Of course it was his fault. She didn't know what had happened; even his teammates didn't know what had happened to cause this.

The psychologist frowned but continued to comfort Kiba. She had a feeling that this had happened. It wasn't uncommon for someone to forget what had happened prior to a traumatic event. It was a defensive mechanism most people used to make pain more bearable. Of course the psychologist knew what had happened as the boy's team had told her but she wouldn't tell him. If he had blocked out what had happened it was obviously too painful for him to remember and if some stranger like his psychologist were to tell him what had happened he would most likely loose it. She would let someone close to him like his teammates tell him.

Kiba started to tremble slightly. He was trying not to cry because if he started to cry he would probably break down and didn't want to seem weak in front of this woman. Yet despite Kiba's best efforts a few tears managed to swell out of his eyes and roll down his face. Slowly rolling over his clans red triangle tattoos and falling off his face onto his black jacket.

Kiba couldn't stay here anymore, he had to leave. Slowly Kiba stood up, grabbing his crutch from the side of the bed as his leg still hurt even if it was almost completely healed. This time the psychologist didn't try to stop him and just let Kiba make his way out the door.

Wiping his eyes with his sleeve, Kiba tried to recompose himself as he made his way down the hallways towards the exit. Slowly Kiba made his way down the hall; eyes trained downwards not having the willpower to keep his head up. Kiba still couldn't get any of these painful thoughts out of his head and he felt blood rolling down his hands as he dug his nails deep into his palms again.

Being so caught up in his own thoughts Kiba didn't even notice the cart sitting on the side of the hallway and nearly fell over it. Trying not to fall over and make a fool of himself Kiba grabbed onto the cart to balance himself. Sluggishly Kiba forced himself off the cart and reoriented himself with his crutch cursing the cart for being in the way. It was then that he realized what it was. It was the cart of one of the nurses that was making her rounds in the morning.

Looking over the cart a certain clear orange bottle filled with familiar pills caught Kiba's eye. Quickly scanning his surroundings Kiba made sure no one was looking as he lifted the bottle and shoved it deep into his jackets pocket.

xx

Shino, Hinata and Kurenai sat quietly outside the hospital doors waiting for their teammate to exit. They knew he probably wouldn't want to see them but they still wanted to try and comfort their broken teammate if they could.

Hinata sat nervously on the edge of a bench; fretfully tapping her fingers together, trying to not feel so awkward. The past week or so had been very traumatic for her as well. Even if she wasn't as bad off as Kiba she still was very moved by the loss of Akamaru. She remembered all the times that the dog had tried to comfort her when she was nervous or upset after she had done badly on a mission. She remembered how therapeutic it always was for her to just pet Akamaru and how she had always felt better afterwards. She was also very worried about Kiba. She had never seen him like this before and it made her very anxious. Kiba was always so upbeat and optimistic and now he seemed like a completely different person. Kiba was always the one that had come to her aid when she needed it and been there for her whenever she had problems at home. But now he seemed almost broken. Would she be able to comfort him now the way he had always managed the soothe her?

Shino also sat wordlessly a few feet down from Hinata on the bench. He had his arms crossed and starred at the ground deep in thought. He wasn't one to show emotions but he had to admit if there was ever a time when he had come close to crying it had been on that mission and after, seeing Kiba so broken and upset. He had spent a lot of the past week with Hinata, trying to comfort her, as she, unlike him, would often break down and cry as she was much more prone to showing her emotions. Shino was also deep in thought about something else. He needed to know what had happened on that solo mission Kiba had been on that had make him act the way he did when he had returned. If he could manage to talk to Kiba alone Shino was determined to force Kiba to tell him what had happened.

Kurenai stood up next to the bench, leaning on the wall. Being a jounin, she had dealt with death often and she was more used to it. But she still was strongly affected by what she had seen on that mission. It was rare nowadays for team 8 to go on a mission together as they were all now Chuunin and she thought it very unfortunate that one of the rare ones they did have together had to end so badly. Kurenai somewhat blamed herself for what had happened. Even if she was not their sensei anymore, she still should have been able to keep them safe.

The three's thoughts were all interrupted as the hospital door opened and Kiba walked slowly out, still relying heavily on his crutch. He paused for a moment when he sensed his team standing not to far away from the door but continued to walk, completely ignoring them.

While they were all hurt that Kiba had so blatantly ignored him they didn't give up and started to follow him. As Kiba was still walking very slowly it wasn't hard to catch up with him and the whole team started to walk silently next to Kiba, not knowing what to say.

As they neared Inuzuka land Kiba finally stopped and turned to his teammates. "What do you want?" Kiba quietly muttered. He still didn't look at his teammates, he just starred down at his feet.

"We are your team so we are here to support you," Shino said in his normal emotionless tone.

"Well thanks for that, but I don't need your support so you can leave now," Kiba said as he tried to walk away again. Even though Kiba was obviously trying to hide it, Shino, being as observant as he is, noticed red streaks coming down Kiba's face and realized the reason he had not talked to them when he left the hospital was that he hadn't wanted them to see him cry.

"Kiba, there's no need to be so rude, we are just here to support you," Kurenai said, not happy with the way Kiba had been so rude to Shino.

Kiba continued walking. He didn't want to talk to his team now. The more he followed him the more he started to blame them for what had happened. He started to blame them for not saving Akamaru even though he had no idea what had happened on that mission. "I said, I don't need your support so leave me alone," Kiba said again, even more bitterly then before.

It was now Hinata's turn to speak. Watching Kiba act this way was starting to greatly upset her and she was now on the verge of tears. "K-Kiba, p-please, we just want to h-help," She said weakly, starting to play with her fingers again.

Kiba stopped now and turned back to his teammates. Hearing Hinata say that felt so much more genuine to Kiba then when his other teammates had said the same thing. And seeing Hinata on the verge of tears made Kiba feel even worse for being so rude to them.

"I-I'm sorry," Kiba said feebly, barely able to keep himself from crying.

And then Hinata did something Kiba wasn't expecting. Slowly she walked up to Kiba and softly put her arms around him. Kiba couldn't hold himself back anymore and tears started freely flowing down his face as he brought Hinata closer to him.

They stayed like this for a while before Kiba let go of his grip on Hinata and took a few steps back. "Thanks for that Hinata," Kiba murmured, a faint smile coming across his face. And with that Kiba continued to walk back to his house.

The team decided that training today wasn't the best idea so they went off in their separate ways. But Shino wasn't going to go straight home yet. He knew that Kurenai and Hinata wouldn't appreciate it if he pestered Kiba more so he pretended to head back to his house. When Hinata and Kurenai were far enough away Shino turned back and headed towards Kiba's house.

Within 15 minutes Kiba had arrived at his house and opened the front gate and headed up the walkway to his front door. It was then that he noticed that Shino was standing there, waiting for him on his front steps.

"Kiba, what happened on that mission?" Shino asked. It came out sounding almost bitter although Shino was trying to say it in the nicest way possible.

"You know what happened better then I do, so why don't you get out of my way and let me go inside and rest, I'm tired." Kiba responded harshly, the way Shino had asked the question had hurt.

"I'm not talking about that mission. I'm talking about the one you went on alone a week before then," Shino said, crossing his arms to show he had no intentions of letting Kiba get by without answering.

"Nothing happened, it was a normal mission," Kiba lied, hoping Shino would leave him alone.

"You're a bad liar. I know something happened, you acted very strangely when you returned and I know it has something to do with why you were unable to sense those basic traps on that last mission. So what happened?"

Kiba bit his lip hard, almost breaking the skin. Memories of that mission started flowing back and his hand started to shake. He figured it was pointless to try and lie again to Shino. It would be even more pointless to try and force his way past him as he probably couldn't even manage that uninjured. So, taking a deep breath to compose himself, Kiba tried to recount what had happened.

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Well, I hoped you liked it! Ahhhh, Hinata gave Kiba a hug XD. This got a little to sappy for my tastes but I think I'll make up for that by making some of the next chapters really dark :). 

Please review!

Oh, and sorry for any gramatical errors I may have missed, I know my writing can get alittle confusing sometimes.


	4. Flashback

So, this turned out a lot longer then I thought it would so it took longer to write. Please Read and Review!

Oh yeah, don't own Naruto.

Also, if you couldn't tell this whole chapter is a flashback

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Chapter 3: Flashback

Leaves rustled and branches creaked as two figures bounded through the woods hopping from branch to branch speedily making their way through the forest. A loud joyous bark sounded as a giant white dog picked up its speed hopping three branches at a time.

"Hey, Akamaru wait up!" A 15 year old completely dressed in black with wild brown hair and red triangle tattoos on his face yelled as he picked up his speed as well to catch up with the giant dog. "Akamaru! Let's stop for now, we're ahead of time and I could use some lunch!"

The dog barked his support and the two of them jumped to the ground landing in a small clearing. Kiba reached into his pack and took out some jerky, throwing some to Akamaru before gnawing at some of it himself.

After finishing up his meal Kiba fell back onto the grass taking a deep breath, trying to relax some before they had to continue. Kiba loved times like this. He loved running through the woods with Akamaru enjoying the fresh forest air as they bounded from branch to branch. Yes, they were technically supposed to be on a mission now but that didn't mean Kiba couldn't have some fun.

Right now Kiba and Akamaru were on a simple delivery mission. In the past few months they were made to go on several missions like this and while Kiba didn't quite like going on such simple missions he did like the time he got to spend out in the woods with Akamaru. Normally, Kiba as a Chuunin wouldn't have to go on such simple missions, but recently tension had been rising between Konoha and several bordering nations and because of this it was considered too dangerous to let lesser trained ninja deliver them as many messages being sent nowadays had to do with possible war plans and alliances. If even one of these messages were to be intercepted it could mean the start of an all out war.

Right now Kiba was on his way to Suna to deliver a message scroll to the Sand Shinobi. Kiba didn't really know what the message was about as he wasn't allowed to read it but he was pretty sure it had something to do with a counter attack the two allied nations were planning if the Rock Village were ever to attack.

Suna wasn't exactly one of Kiba's favorite places. The sand always got into his eyes and it made using his sense of smell rather difficult at times. A lot of the people there also made Kiba rather uncomfortable because even if the climate was normally very hot, the people all seemed to have very cold personalities that made it very awkward to deal with them.

After finishing their meal, Kiba re-secured his bag to his back and jumped back up into the trees signaling Akamaru to follow. It took on average three days to reach Suna and the duo had been traveling for about two and a half now although they were making good time and should probably make it to the village within an hour. Kiba was glad that for most of the trip to Suna there were trees to travel in as he hated having to run in the sand.

As predicted, an hour later Suna village was within view. Kiba grumbled as they were now traveling on sand as the village was located in a desert. It wasn't particularly much harder to travel in the sand; Kiba just didn't like it because it always got stuck in his sandals and clothes as well as in Akamaru's fur.

After checking in at the entrance to the village, Kiba and Akamaru headed to the villages main hall. The main building had a very similar look to Konoha's but instead of being mostly made of wood the outside seemed to be made of strange type of and; although the inside was quite nice. Once in the building Kiba quickly made his way to the Kazekages's office and dropped the message off with one of the Kage's assistants. Kiba was glad that he didn't have deal with the Kage, Gaara, himself; as every time Kiba saw him he always remembered what he had seen him do in the Chuunin exams and was still somewhat fearful of him.

The sun was setting by the time Kiba was out of the building so he began to leisurely stroll through the town. A room at one of the hotels had been saved for him to stay in for the night before he had to start his journey back to Konoha the next morning. While Kiba did like sleeping outside in the woods it was always nice to have a good bed to sleep in for a night. Kiba was also looking forward to getting a good meal in him so on his little stroll through the village he kept an eye out for any decent looking restaurant.

Akamaru let out a short whine (well more of a low growl as he had grown so big even his most innocent whines sounded vicious and he would often scare people walking buy who didn't know him at all) indicating that he agreed with Kiba and could use some good food. Over the past 6 years the two had been together pretty much all day every day and because of this they had developed a very special relationship. Akamaru was very good at reading Kiba and could tell what he was thinking even if didn't say anything. Kiba was equally as good at telling what Akamaru wanted, which was a good thing as Akamaru didn't talk. Well, at least not human talk. He had his own little dog language that pretty much only had and Kiba understood.

As Kiba and Akamaru continued through the towns streets they spotted a familiar figure. "Hey, Kankuro!" Kiba yelled to the strange puppet user. Ever since Kankuro had saved Kiba and Akamaru from the sound 5 they had been friends. Well not friends really. Kiba more just bugged Kankuro whenever Kiba was in Suna or Kankuro was in Konoha.

Kankuro let out a groan as he watched Kiba walk up to him. Sometimes he regretted that he had saved the boy's life as Kiba constantly annoyed him whenever he was near him. Kankuro guessed it was just Kiba's way of thanking him but Kiba could get so annoying sometimes that Kankuro almost thought that Kiba had had a death wish and he was trying to punish Kankuro for not letting Kiba just die there in the woods.

"Hey, so I'm town for tonight because of a mission and I've got nothing to do so do you want to hang out or something?" Kiba asked, now in a good mood. He enjoyed hanging out with Kankuro every once in a while. Yes, Kankuro wasn't exactly the nicest person but Kiba thought it was funny how Kankuro took everything way too seriously and got angry and the smallest things sometimes. Kiba knew that Kankuro didn't exactly like the company but being his "friend" was Kiba's way of thanking Kankuro for what he had done for him and Akamaru. Even if Kankuro acted like he didn't like having anyone around Kiba knew that he was grateful he had one inside; well at least that's what Kiba liked to think.

"Yeah, well no matter how much I'd really like hanging out with someone as _well kept_ as you," Kankuro said rather sarcastically. Kiba looked awful and smelled even worse as he still had the same clothes on he had been wearing for the last three days and hadn't had time on the way here to do such unnecessary things like bathing. "I have some business to attend to, so fuck off mutt."

"Mutt?" Kiba responded bitterly. Like Kankuro he also had a somewhat bad temper. "At least I'm not that one going around playing with puppets and wearing makeup."

This is what Kankuro hated, they had only been talking for less then a minute and already they were arguing. "Well, for one thing, this is war paint," Kankuro retorted, pointing to his face, "and don't make fun of my puppets. They could kill you and your dumb mutt before you had a chance to react." And with this Kankuro turned and walked away.

Akamaru growled, not happy with the fact that he had just been called a Mutt; even though that was technically what he was. The mutt comment made Kiba even angrier as well. He didn't mind so much when people made fun of him but if someone said even the slightest negative thing about Akamaru, or even just something in a negative tone like Kankuro just had, he swore he would kick their ass. Although that probably wouldn't happen here as Kiba had seen what those puppets could do and never wanted to be on the receiving end of any of their attacks. Kiba also didn't like when people just walked away when he was talking to them. So he followed Kankuro as he went about his business.

Kiba really did have a lot of time to kill because he had arrived so early so he followed Kankuro around for a while until Kankuro finally got so fed up with Kiba that he went into his house and slammed the door in Kiba's face. Content with the fact that he had just killed a few hours Kiba and Akamaru headed back into town to get something to eat and get a good night sleep at their hotel.

xx

Before the sun had even risen the next day Kiba and Akamaru were up and getting ready for their trip back to Konoha. Kiba took a shower and ate a quick breakfast before heading towards the main gate. Not many people were out in town yet as the sun hadn't even risen but some shop keepers were starting to open up to prepare for the morning rush. Kiba liked Suna and the desert at dusk and in the early morning. The low light from the sun made the sand seem to glow and gave the town a sort of serene feel.

But even if the desert had a somewhat pleasant feel, for Kiba and Akamaru it could never compare to the forest. Within 20 minutes of leaving Konoha they were both glad to be back in the forest's heading back to Konoha. Kiba hoped that when they got back they would be able to get a decent mission this time. While this was admittedly a little enjoyable he would always prefer a more dangerous mission over something a damn bird could do.

Kiba and Akamaru bounded from tree to tree masterfully making their way through the forest. They had taken this path and been in these forests so many times that they could easily make most of the trip blind folded. So, effortlessly, they both jumped from branch to branch trying to make the trip as quick as possible hopefully making the return trip even quicker th-…

Akamaru stopped abruptly on the next branch sniffing the air rapidly. Kiba stopped as well right next to the massive dog sniffing the air as well.

"Like someone thinks they could fool us this easily, eh, Akamaru?" Kiba laughed before jumping to the next branch landing next to a rather conspicuously concealed exploding tag sitting on the trunk of a tree. Akamaru let out an exited bark as Kiba easily deactivated the exploding tag before removing it from the tree.

"Yeah I know Akamaru. Like anyone could catch us with a trap in these woods," Kiba said smugly. Kiba and Akamaru knew the woods so well that not even the smallest change would go unnoticed. They both sniffed the air again trying to sense any other traps that may be around. "Heh, who ever set up these traps must not be very smart." All the traps had been set up in a fairly wide perimeter obviously meant to keep people out of the enclosed area. The only problem with this set up was that there were many gaping holes that people could easily go through and that all the traps that were set up were painfully obvious.

Akamaru whined, signaling to Kiba that he sensed something else. "So there are still two or three people there? Let's go pay them a little visit then Akamaru." Kiba said; glad that maybe they would get some action on this mission, as they both took off towards the smell.

Landing on a branch high in one of the trees inside the perimeter of the traps, Kiba and Akamaru looked down at the origin of the smell. There were 2 sleeping bags and backpacks strewn about next to a tree with 2 forehead protectors lying on them. "Rock Ninja, eh?" Kiba said frowning. If they were rock Nin there wasn't much Kiba could do. The leaf and the rock were on very shaky terms. If Kiba were to attack these people it would just worsen the relationship and push the two nations further towards war. Wait, but where were the people…?

_Shit_. Kiba quickly turned on his heels dodging the kunai that went flying past his head. So he had fallen into a trap? They must have heard Kiba and Akamaru coming and set up obvious traps to lure them into another trap. Guess they weren't as dumb as Kiba had thought. Kiba jumped to another nearby branch dodging another barrage of weapons in the process. As soon as Kiba's foot had touched that next branch several weapons came slicing through the air from below.

"Akamaru! Go take care of those people below us I'll take care of the one here." Kiba yelled to Akamaru who proceeded to jump down to the ground in search of the other enemies. Kiba reached into his pouch and pulled out a Kunai while sniffing the air trying to get a sense of where the enemy was.

"Found you," Kiba barked as he hurled the Kunai into a bush on a branch hanging from a tree to the right of him, effectively flushing out the enemy who tried to evade and jump to another branch higher up.

"Ha, like I'd let you get away," Kiba said as he went onto all fours before launching himself into the air towards the evading enemy. Kiba's elbow connected with the enemy's stomach sending him flying into a tree before falling down to the ground below.

The enemy groaned, trying to push himself up from his stomach. But he didn't do it quick enough and before he knew what had happened Kiba had his foot jammed into the enemy's spine and a knife at his neck.

Just then a small explosion echoed in the distance.

"Akamaru!" Kiba yelled, unsure what the sound had been caused by. Surely Akamaru hadn't been beaten by the enemy? These guys were too weak for Akamaru to beaten. Kiba was about to head off to the source of the explosion when he realized he just couldn't let the enemy below him leave. Quickly, Kiba removed the knife from the mans throat simultaneously grabbing another one from his pouch before slamming them both down, one through each of the enemies arm into the ground below it. The enemy let out a scream of blood started to pour from the wounds and puddle around his body. "Heh, you're not going anywhere," Kiba said before taking off.

Kiba quickly raced towards where he had heard the sound. It wasn't far as the other enemy had been right below were they had been before. When Kiba arrived at where the explosion was he couldn't see anything; clouds of dust from the explosion still hanging in the air. Kiba cursed, still not being able to see his friend. A strange smell came to Kiba's nose making him cringe. _Blood?_ Akamaru's blood? No, it didn't smell like his, and it didn't smell like the other enemy who he had just stabbed. It had a strange smell though; it didn't exactly smell like normal human blood.

The dust started to clear and Kiba slowly approached the smells. He squinted, trying to see what lay beyond the thick cloud of dust. Kiba could barely make out the shape of his dog, standing, breathing deeply staring at a tree in front of him. The tree looked like it had had some of it blown off and parts of it were on fire. It seemed like one of the traps in the tree had been set off.

As the dust settled even more Kiba started to make out the outline of someone sitting hunched over at the bottom of the tree. Was that one of the other enemies they had sensed before? Then finally as the dust cleared what he saw shocked him.

Sitting hunched over under the tree bleeding badly from several deep wounds was a little kid. Kiba gasped as he saw it. The kid couldn't have been older then 8 or 9 years old and yet he was out here on a mission? He had never seen any one this young before on a mission. In fact almost everyone he had ever fought had been at least as old as he was. Why was this little kid here? He didn't even look like he was old enough to go to the academy.

As Kiba looked even closer he saw something else that shocked him. The boy was holding something in his arms; defensively trying to keep it away from Akamaru, who hadn't moved from the position he had been in when Kiba had first arrived. Whatever it was that the boy had in his arms was bleeding badly; its blood all over the boys arm. It appeared to be a little lump of bleeding fur. Kiba couldn't tell what exactly it was but that didn't stop him from feeling a slight tinge of terror.

What scared Kiba is that this reminded him of a situation he had been in before. When he and Akamaru had been cornered and helpless on the rescue Sasuke mission and were about to be murdered by the two of Orcochimaru's minions. Just this time he was on the opposite side he had been on before. Would he really have to kill this helpless kid? Kiba bit his lip, not knowing what to do now. He could just leave now and continue back to the village, but he had to find out what these two were doing so close to the fire country border. Kiba bit his hand, trying to think of what to do next. Why the hell did these people have to be here? It was already bad enough that he had severely injured two rock Shinobi but the fact that one of them was practically a baby made it even worse.

Akamaru moved for the first time since Kiba arrived, taking a few steps towards the little kid. "Akamaru stop," Kiba yelled, not wanting Akamaru to do anything before Kiba had time to think. But Kiba couldn't think, he had no idea what to do. He didn't want to have to do anything to this little kid, he didn't even know if he could bring himself to do it. He had killed before, just it had always been in battle and it had always been someone at least as old as him. "A-Akamaru, leave him a lone, we're leaving." Kiba muttered. He didn't care what they were here for anymore, he just wanted to get out of here now. This little kid didn't even look like a Shinobi; he was probably just some random civilian walking his pet or something.

_Shit!_ Kiba sidestepped, just barely avoiding the kunai that went flying past his head. "D-don't touch him!" The enemy Kiba though he had pinned before yelled before charging straight towards where Kiba and Akamaru stood; a kunai gripped loosely in his hand. Kiba was surprised the man could even use his arms after he had had the two knife shoved straight through them. Kiba took a defensive position preparing for the attack but was distracted by a noise behind him. Kiba turned to see the little boy weakly trying to stand up, pulling a kunai from his pouch. Akamaru noticed this as well and jumped in front of the boy preventing him from getting to Kiba.

"Leave him alone!" The man who had been charging at him yelled. Kiba cursed at himself for getting distracted and turned back around to face the charging man. The man weakly jabbed at Kiba with the kunai and Kiba easily dodged to the side and without thinking grabbed the blade from the weak grip and shoved it into the mans stomach.

"P-please leave him alone…" the man said weakly, coughing up blood before falling to the ground, dead. Kiba looked down at the body slumped on the ground in front of him. He was shocked, he had killed many people before, but for some reason this time felt different. Kiba's hand started to shake and he dropped the Kunai to the ground before turning back to Akamaru and the young boy behind him.

"D-dad," the boy said weakly, shocked by what he had just seen. "I'll kill you!" He then screamed, standing up with his pet still in his arms before he too charged at Kiba. Kiba just looked at the small boy charging at him now, dazed, unable to move.

Blood. There was blood on him now. Whose blood is this? There was blood on Akamaru too. What happened? Kiba looked forward to where Akamaru and the boy stood. Just the boy didn't look the same anymore. In an effort to prevent the little child from getting to Kiba, Akamaru had jumped in front and slashed at the boy. He was now missing a chunk of his arms and his stomach and neck had been torn apart. The animal that he had been carrying had been severely mangled as well. They both stood dazed for a second, blood freely spurting from the wounds, then fell to the ground in a bloody heap.

"A-Akamaru. W-why did you have to do that…"

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So, hoped you liked it. Please review! I have midterms coming up so if I wanted to I could probably write a couple chapters then (I don't study, so midterms just means more free time), altough I'd be more motivated to do that if I got some reviews :). 


	5. Recovery

Allright, here's the next chapter for those of you that care. Please review. I'd like to get atleast a couple more reviews to atleast know that some people are reading this.

Don't own Naruto or any of its charachters.

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Chapter 4: Recovery

"I don't see what the big deal is," Shino said in a flat voice. Why would Kiba be so shaken up about something as trivial as killing some one on a mission? He'd seen Kiba kill people without hesitating before, why would this time be different?

"Yeah, you're right. Its not big deal," Kiba muttered in reply. "Now do you mind? I have to get some rest." Kiba said, motioning for Shino to get out of the way.

Shino frowned, but complied with Kiba's request and let him inside his house. Shino wondered if Kiba would ever completely recover from this state. He had always wondered what would happen if Akamaru had died and his approximations were about right. Although Kiba tried to act tough a lot he was actually pretty caring and, in Shino's opinion, fairly weak at times mentally. Shino had predicted that Kiba would become closed off and bitter like he was now. Shino was glad that one of his other predictions wasn't true. Kiba seemed to at least accept the fact that Akamaru was dead. Shino was worried that he would just live in denial and develop some serious mental illnesses associated with severe mental trauma.

Kiba also was a somewhat vengeful person. Whenever Akamaru or someone on his team got injured he usually tried to get some kind of revenge for them, feeling that it was his duty to not let any enemy get away with anything.

Shino started to head home once Kiba had gotten inside, still thinking about Kiba's mental state. According to the doctors Kiba had repressed a lot of what had happened during the actual mission. Apparently Kiba remembered getting caught in the trap and beating two of the four enemies. He remembered Akamaru being wounded and his leg being injured as well. Apparently the last thing Kiba remembered was the last attack the enemy had made before the team had arrived to help him. Although repressing memories isn't always a good thing, Shino figured it was a good thing that Kiba didn't remember what had happened after they had arrived.

Shino guessed that Kiba figured that the enemies had been killed since he was still alive. That was partly true; they had killed three of the enemies. Shino just hoped that he would never have to tell Kiba how Akamaru had actually died and that the one that was directly responsible for his death was alive.

xx

Kiba sat down on the foot of his bed, his mind still racing. He had been lying in bed for two hours trying to sleep but couldn't, his mind was refusing to shut down. He had taken two more of the pills, which had taken the last remaining bit of pain and made his body slightly numb, but they hadn't caused him to fall asleep like they had before. Maybe these were different pain killers then the ones he had taken before? Maybe these ones didn't have as strong a sedative in them as the last ones had. It didn't really matter to Kiba now though, the only thing that mattered was that he couldn't sleep, and he couldn't stop thinking.

The doctor's had told him that he should be able to get back to training in a couple weeks but Kiba wondered if he even wanted to go back. What had happened in the span of that one weak had changed his whole view on being a ninja. He didn't know if he wanted to go back to doing that again. The worst part of it all was that it all seemed to be his fault. If he went back to being a ninja he was sure that he would probably do something to get one of his friends killed again and he didn't know if he could handle that.

Kiba also wondered if he did go back to fighting, how he would fight. He had always been so reliant on Akamaru to aid him in battle he didn't know if he could really fight without him. Kiba figured that his parents would try to make him take on another dog as that was what normally happened when one of the Nin dog died and the owner was still able to fight, which wasn't often. Normally both the owner and the dog would die together simply because of the fact that they always fought together as one unit. If one died, they both died. When Kiba started to think about these things he started feeling like a disgrace. How had he managed to let Akamaru die and manage to live? Would he even be able to take on another dog? Akamaru couldn't just be replaced like a Kunai.

Kiba bit his lip. Everyone had always told him not to think so negatively and blame everything on himself. But in this situation he didn't see how this wasn't his fault. Kiba bit his hand hard, trying to stop himself from becoming so angry but it wasn't helping. He needed to stop thinking now. He reached back over to the bottle of pills on his dresser and removed a couple. The doctors had told him the first time he had taken the pills that he should never take more then one of two as it could be dangerous. They told him some bullshit about how the sedative in the pill slowed down the central nervous system and reduced pain and that if you took too many it could completely shut it down. Kiba didn't care right now, he just wanted to sleep. So he took the two pills in his palm and shoved them in his mouth and swallowed them.

xx

It was now two weeks later. Kiba sat in a chair in his room trying to read a book, something he didn't do often, trying to keep his mind of everything. Right now he was mildly sedated by the pills, which he had just taken the last of. His body was completely healed now and he knew that his team would try and force him to go back to training. He had managed to start to talk to his teammates in the last week or so, although he usually forced them to leave within 20 minutes.

They had told them that they would help him start training again and that they had all offered to take lesser missions with him until he was back to his previous ability. He knew that Shino probably didn't like this but Hinata would probably be glad to stay out of any serious combat. Kiba was also fairly certain that the Hokage wouldn't like not having use of 3 Chuunin and a Jounin as they were currently low in numbers and times were tense.

Although Kiba had told them he would return to training so that they would leave him alone, he still wasn't sure, even after of 2 weeks of thinking, whether he really wanted to return. He felt guilty for holding them all back right now and figured that if he just quit it would benefit them all.

Kiba had been sitting where he was now, trying to read for the past 3 hours and yet he had only gotten through maybe 10 pages. Despite his best efforts he just couldn't stop himself from thinking.

Kiba was also worried about the fact that he had run out of pain killers. He knew he didn't really need them anymore but every time they started to wear off he could swear that his body was starting to hurt more and more after every time. He knew he should probably stop taking them but when the pain killers had worn off the last few times the pain had started to be unbearable.

Finally giving up on reading, Kiba threw the book on the ground and headed for the kitchen. He could walk normally now as his leg had healed completely. Even though he had already been up for 3 hours, the sun was just starting to come up. He had been awakened in the middle of the night by an intense pain in his body and he couldn't get back to sleep after he had taken the last of the painkillers so he decided to stay up.

Kiba was now worried what would happen when the last pain killers wore off. So in a last second decision he decided he would go back to training; at least for today. He wouldn't do any serious training as right now he had to work on getting his body back to its previous condition, so he most likely would just be doing some pushups, crunches and running for training for a weak or so. Hopefully the intense work out would keep his mind off the pain.

xx

Kiba arrived at the training ground long before any of his teammates did. After leaving his room that morning he had just quickly had something to eat and gotten changed into his normal clothes, black pants, a black jacket and a fish net undershirt and armor. He decided against wearing his forehead protector and left it on his dresser.

As Kiba first arrived at the old meeting place he had to choke back a couple tears. He hadn't been here since Akamaru had died and being here again brought back a lot of memories. He remembered all the new techniques the two of them had mastered here and all the times they had sparred with Shino and all the little pranks they both had played on their team. He remembered waking up early every morning so that he could walk enjoy a peaceful walk with Akamaru before they had to start training.

Kiba quickly recomposed himself and sat down on the bench they always met at. He didn't want to start training alone so he decided to wait for them to arrive.

Sitting there, waiting for his team to arrived, Kiba started to get bored. The fact that he was getting bored was far more painful to Kiba then actually being bored. When Akamaru was around he had never been bored. They always could come up with something to do and he never had to deal with these painful times and feelings of just being completely alone.

As the boredom was starting to become unbearable, the first of his teammates finally arrived. Like normal, the first one their besides Kiba was Shino. Shino nodded a greeting to Kiba but didn't try to start a conversation. Kiba was glad now that Shino didn't talk much. It had always been something that had really annoyed Kiba, as he always felt like he was talking to a tree when he was trying to have a conversation with Shino.

Shino didn't like wasting time so he immediately started to train. Kiba watched as he stood there, controlling his bugs and getting them all warmed up. In a way, Kiba was jealous of the bugs. He wasn't jealous that he didn't have bugs inside himself; he found that disgusting. He was just jealous that Shino would always have a companion with him, even if it was just a small bug. Kiba wished he could have a million Akamaru's so that Akamaru would never really be completely dead, like Shino seemed to have an infinite number of bugs and no matter how many you killed they wouldn't all die.

Soon after Shino arrived the rest of his team arrived. They all sat around and talked to Kiba for a little and then started training.

xx

Training went fairly normally for the day. Kiba just did some pushups and practiced molding chakra for a while. He didn't try to do any of his jutsu though. Kiba was afraid that if he did start doing all his old jutsu it would just make it that more painful that Akamaru wasn't here, since Akamaru was always such a central part of them all.

Training went normally until about noon. While Kiba was running around a little, trying to reform the muscle in his leg, the painkillers he had taken that morning completely wore off and all of a sudden an intense pain started to shoot through his entire body. Kiba tried to reason with himself, saying it was just caused by the sudden huge strain on his body after not training for so long.

Kiba tried to ignore the pain at first and continued to train. But eventually the pain got so bad that he could barely stand up. Kiba decided against telling his teammates about the intense pain as to not worry them anymore and instead excused himself from training saying he had enough for the day. They didn't try to stop him and let him go. They were most likely just glad that he had decided to train at all.

Kiba tried to walk normally as long as he could but as soon as he got out of view of his teammates he began to limp; the pain in his leg and throughout his entire body becoming too much. He didn't know where to go now. He didn't want to go home, as he wouldn't be able to sleep and being alone doing nothing would start to get painful. He decided instead to head towards the hospital. They wouldn't give him anymore painkillers because he was completely healed, but he was hoping that maybe he could steal some of a cart like he did last time.

So Kiba started to limps towards the hospital. To Kiba's dismay, the town was rather packed right now, as it was lunch time and a lot of people were out buying food or taking a break. Kiba tried to avoid as many people as possible, as every time someone so much as brushed into him it felt like he was being sliced by a knife.

Kiba stopped suddenly as a scent hit his nose. Normally he would have been at least a little happy to smell this scent but right now it was about the last thing he wanted.

"Hey, Kiba. How're you doing?" Kankuro said as he walked up to the Kiba. Kankuro had heard what had happened to Akamaru so he knew that Kiba probably wasn't in the best mood so he decided maybe he'd tried to cheer him up. After all, Kiba was one of the only friends he had. He hadn't heard about what had happened until about two weeks ago. Death was a fairly common thing to happen in a hidden village and as such Kankuro didn't hear about many deaths that happened in Konoha unless they were very important ones. Kankuro had heard though, that a Konoha Shinobi squad had been ambushed by some enemy Shinobi and that it was a very delicate situation as there were some mortality. But Kankuro hadn't heard who was involved.

In fact Kankuro hadn't learned of Akamaru's death until he had been in town two weeks ago and he inquired with Shino about were Kiba was and Shino had told him what had happened. Kankuro decided it wasn't the best idea to talk to Kiba then so he waited until the next time he was in the village, which happened to be now, two weeks later, to talk to Kiba.

It kind of surprised Kankuro that he had cared at all about Akamaru's death. He hadn't cried or anything, but he was stricken by it nonetheless. Before then he had always though of Kiba and his giant dog as annoying flies that followed him around whenever they were in the same town. But Akamaru's death actually made Kankuro realize that he actually somewhat cared about Kiba. It was also then that he realized that Kiba and Akamaru were pretty much the only people that had ever become friend with him and that with this death his amount of friends was effectively cut in half.

Kankuro wasn't quite sure how he was going to go about trying to comfort Kiba as he wasn't the most sensitive person. He just figured that Kiba would be happy to talk to him as Kiba seemed to think of them as good friends.

"I'm fine," Kiba responded quickly, trying to get rid of Kankuro. "If you don't mind, I'd kind of like to be alone; I need to do a few errands."

"What's with this attitude," Kankuro replied, shocked the mutt was going to be so rude to him. "I'm just trying to see how you are and you're this rude to me? You should be grateful I'm even talking to you!"

"Well I didn't ask you to talk to me," Kiba muttered, bitterly. It was true; normally he would be glad to talk to Kankuro. Their conversations were always…animated… for a lack of a better word, and were always amusing for Kiba. But right now he just wanted to be left alone so he could try and deal with this pain. "Shouldn't you be glad I don't want to talk? You always seem so angry whenever I try to talk to you."

"Hey, I'm just trying to be a good friend, okay?" Kankuro said, rather angry now. Who the hell was he to be so rude? "I'm just trying to be nice because your damn dog died and I figured maybe if I talked to you, you'd feel a little better seeing as you seem to always stalk me."

"Since when have we ever been friends?" Kiba would probably regret saying this. He _did_ want to be friends with Kankuro; he just really wasn't in the mood to talk right now. He also was now furious with Kankuro for referring to Akamaru as his _'damn dog'_. "Last time we talked you called me and Akamaru a mutt and threatened to kill us. Last time I checked that's not exactly what friends do. So why do you care how I feel? Just leave me alone. Go fuck your puppets or something."

"Godamnit Kiba! I'm trying to be nice because I care about you and you're one of my only friends and this is how you repay me!? By telling me to go fuck my puppets!" Kankuro was absolutely furious now. It took a lot of effort for him to be nice even for a second and Kiba didn't appreciate it at all.

"You _care_ about me?" Kiba mocked. "What are you a _fag_ or something?" He was definitely going to regret saying this. He didn't even really feel this way. He was glad that Kankuro had tried to take an initiative and try to make him feel better. He just didn't want to talk now, the pain was starting to become too much. He also didn't want to appear weak in front of the older boy, who was now a jounin.

"What did you just say!?" Kankuro yelled. That was it. Kankuro could only be nice for so long. He couldn't hold back anymore. He lurched at Kiba and grabbed his collar shoving him against the wall hard. "I'm trying to be nice and you start going around calling me a _fag_?! Who the hell do you think you are?!"

If just bumping into someone on the road felt like getting sliced by a knife, getting brutally slammed into a wall felt like someone has shoved an explosive done his throat and blown him up from the inside out. The pain was too intense. Kiba couldn't hold back anymore and he let out a muffled scream of pain and started coughing violently. Kiba's body started to shake, the pain was too much.

Kankuro immediately let go of his hold on the younger boy and Kiba immediately fell to the ground on all fours, still coughing and mildly convulsing.

"A-are you okay?" Kankuro stammered. He was no longer angry with Kiba, he was just worried now. Seeing the state that Kiba was in. "C-come on. I barely hit you." Kankuro said, still not being able to be a completely decent person.

Kiba tried to get a hold of himself and slowed down this coughing and shaking enough to weakly nod his head. He tried to bring himself to his feet but he couldn't muster enough strength in his now aching legs. Kankuro reached down to try and help Kiba up, grabbing his hand and helped hoist Kiba to his feet.

"Do you want me to bring you to the hospital?" Kankuro asked. Right now he just kind of wanted to get away from Kiba and was starting to regret trying to talk to him at all.

Kiba shook his head. "I-I don't need your help, I'm fine." Kiba tried to take a couple steps but had to stop and grab onto the wall for support.

"Seriously, Kiba you don't look so good, you should really go to the hospital." Kankuro tried to say this as nice as possible but the way Kiba had responded to Kankuro's offer of help made his last offer sort of half hearted.

"Look. Thanks for trying to help me," Kiba said, finally being able to swallow enough of his pride to at least Kankuro for his offer of help. "But I'm fine and I just really want to be alone now."

Kankuro just nodded and let Kiba slowly limp away using the wall for support. It was obvious to Kankuro, no matter how bad he was at detecting someone's mood, that Kiba was still pretty torn apart by what had happened to Akamaru. This didn't really surprise Kankuro that much, as he knew how close the two had been. What had really surprised him though was how poorly Kiba had taken the weak hit. He had seemed Kiba fight before and he knew that he could take a pretty good beating before going down. He also knew that all his injuries should have been healed as it had been a fairly long time since Kiba had first gotten injured. Kankuro didn't know why he had been hurt so bad by that one and normally he wouldn't really care. But for some reason, all that had happened to Kiba had actually managed to change Kankuro and for the first time in his life he was determined to try and help someone else, not because he was ordered too, but because he wanted to.

xx

As Kiba approached the hospital he tried to control his limp as best he could. This was very difficult, as his body was in worse pain then ever. He managed to walk normally enough that by the time he entered the hospital it may have looked like he had just mildly sprained his ankle.

Kiba stood in the waiting room, unsure of were to go. The receptionist was sitting at her desk, writing something in a notebook. She didn't seem too attentive so keep tried to sneak past her into the main wings of the hospital.

Luckily, the receptionist didn't seem to notice, or if she did she didn't seem to care. Kiba walked slowly passed and headed into the main wing.

Kiba didn't know where to go from here. He started to walk down the hall scanning the rooms for a sign of one of those carts. Most of the doors were open and when Kiba looked in he saw many injured people but no carts or medicine. Kiba continued to walk until he came upon a closed door labeled 'supplies'. Kiba figured it was his best bet and opened the door.

Inside stood many shelved covered with various medial equipment. Kiba frowned as he realized there were no orange medicine bottles. Just a few boxes with pills in them labeled with strange medical terms Kiba had never heard before. He knew what he had been taking before was some type of painkiller that also had some type of sedative in it. He scanned the boxes looking for any of those words and came upon a small one, no bigger then a small book. The box had a label scribbled on it that said 'painkiller: pure morphine'. He didn't really know what that meant but he knew that morphine meant painkiller or something like that, so he picked up the box. It felt kind of heavy to just be pills but he didn't care. He quickly shoved it in his pocket and made his way out of the hospital. The pain was starting to become unbearable, he needed these drugs in him right now…

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Next chapter should be up soon assuming I get some more reviews. The next part of this fic is probably going to get more intense and have some interesting events happening so please read :).


	6. Reliance

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Chapter 5: Reliance 

Kiba sat on the edge of his bed, trembling and still in pain. He held the box he had taken from the hospital in his lap, looking it over. All the medical terms on the box meant nothing to Kiba; he just hoped he had taken something that would make this pain go away.

Kiba slowly opened the box, peeking inside. There were bottles in the box, but they didn't seem to have any pills in them. There were also some long, slender packages sitting in the box as well. They looked sort of familiar but Kiba's body was so sore he couldn't think straight and remember where exactly he had seen them before.

Whatever this stuff was, it didn't matter to Kiba, as long as it got rid of this intense pain he was feeling. Fumbling with the packages, Kiba tried to figure out what exactly he had taken. Reading the direction on the side of the package, Kiba's eyes went wide as he realized what he had taken.

xx

The Hokage sat at her desk, rubbing her temples, trying to rid of some stress. More then anything right now she wished she could have at least a couple drinks. She knew _that_ could help get rid of at least a little of this stress.

The reason she was so stressed was the slowly deteriorating state of relations between Konoha and the village of the Rock. There had been a war between the two villages about 15 years ago and it had ended with both nations signing a treaty. The treaty had lasted until the last couple of years when the Rock village had grown angry with Konoha for creating several monopolies on businesses, hurting the rocks economy, causing several of the smaller villages in the Rock nation to dip into poverty.

Of course, none of these economic problems were Konoha's fault. All the problems were caused by the feudal lords of the other villages and cities in the Fire country being too reckless with their businesses causing the Rock nation distress. And as always, the ones that were going to have to solve the problems were the hidden villages, the military of the countries.

The Hokage had been working hard trying to negotiate with the Rock village to avoid war but recently the negotiations had started to break down. War was inevitable, especially when recently several Rock spies had been killed while patrolling near the border of Konoha. The rock had been outraged by this attack, which had clearly breached the treaty between the two nations.

The Hokage just hoped that if they did end up going to war with the Rock that they could count on the Sand village to reinforce them. But although Konoha and Suna where still technically on good terms, Suna was reluctant to promise aid if a war were to break out, not wanting to involve their nation.

If the Rock village were to launch a full scale attack against Konoha, Tsunade doubted that the village would be able to survive without any aid. They still were rather low on Shinobi from when the sound and sand villages had attacked several years ago, as they could only pump out a small amount of new Shinobi at a time.

Tsunade groaned and slouched over, resting her head on her hand. She didn't want to have to deal with all this. Why did she have to become Hokage? She would have been so much happier to just traveling from village to village gambling like she had been before.

Tsunade was so lost in thought she barely noticed that Shizune had just entered the room.

"Tsunade, we have problems," Shizune said frantically.

"What is it now?" Tsunade replied, not in the mood to do any work.

"ANBU has reported seeing three teams of Rock Shinobi cross the fire country border to the northwest." Shizune said, hoping that Tsunade would actually listen for once. "ANBU did not engage the enemy, per orders. The Rock ninja have not entered deep into Fire country yet so they do not seem to pose much of a threat. We are keeping tabs on two of the teams although we do not currently have enough men deployed to keep watch on the third team."

"Damnit, I was hoping I could get at least one day without something happening," Tsunade groaned, hoping things didn't escalate. "The Rock is most likely trying to bait us into making the first move in this war by attacking their Shinobi. Even if their Shinobi are trespassing on our land there isn't much we can do unless they make a move first. If we make the first move we may lose some our allies. Our allies have made it very clear that they want to avoid an all out war at all costs and have stated that if we initiate the war they won't come to our support."

"So Hokage, what do you recommend we do?" Shizune asked.

"Leave the Rock ninja alone unless they initiate something first," Tsunade started, "And get another team to monitor the third Rock unit, we don't want them getting away with anything."

Shizune nodded and went to work looking for a team to send. Almost all the teams were currently deployed patrolling other parts of the fire country and could not redeploy to another location without leaving large portions of the country unattended. Most of the teams not patrolling were on normal missions that were necessary to keep the village financially secure. Shizune flipped through a folder containing a list of all the currently un-deployed teams. The list was very short and most of the available teams were either genin teams too weak for such a mission of teams that were not as well specialized in being able to keep track of any enemy. There was only one team on the list that had the required talent and tracking abilities to handle such a mission although she wasn't sure how happy the team would be with getting such a mission…

xx

Kiba lay back on his bed, eyes half shut and mouth half open. This feeling was good. His body was numb and his mind was calm. A wind was blowing outside and the shadows the swaying trees danced on the walls of Kiba's room. Kiba watched the shadows lazily sweep across the wall, enjoying this euphoria. He only wished that he could just stay like this forever.

xx

The next morning the effects from the drugs he had taken from the box had almost completely worn off. His body had a dull ache throughout it and his head had a light throbbing pulsing through it. Kiba knew that he was going to have to train today, but he didn't think he would be able to if that pain came back.

Slowly Kiba stood up and walked over to his dresser and opened the bottom drawer and removed the box from its hiding place. Kiba had a feeling he may have taken too much of whatever this stuff was the day before, he hadn't been thinking straight when he had took it and didn't read the directions on how much your supposed to. Kiba knew that if he took that amount again he wouldn't be able to train at all and his teammates would probably find out about all this. But if he took too little he wouldn't be able to train either. So trying to think what the best amount was, Kiba removed the bottle and the contents of one of the packages and got to work.

After finishing and getting dressed, Kiba lazily walked towards the door to head to the training grounds. Even though Kiba had only taken a small the amount it still had some strong affects. Whatever this stuff was it was powerful.

Kiba arrived at the training grounds shortly after he left his house. He tried to act as normally as possible so that no one would be suspicious. To Kiba's surprise his team was already at the meeting place, waiting for him. This was odd; Kiba was always the first one there because he always woke up the earliest, normally to give Akamaru a walk. And even though Akamaru didn't need a walk in the morning anymore, Kiba couldn't kill the old habit of waking up so early and as such he should have arrived here earlier then his team.

"What are you guys doing here so early?" Kiba muttered, trying not to slur his speech.

"We have a mission," Kurenai responded. "We requested not to take any missions for a couple weeks so we could help you recover, but an important one came up that needed to be handled. We need to leave immediately so we stopped here first to tell you we won't be training."

"What kind of mission it is?" Kiba asked. He was somewhat glad they didn't have to train and he could go back to his house. But he was interested in what kind of mission could be so important that they had to leave.

"There have been several Rock Nin teams that have entered the border to the northwest. We've been asked to track one of the teams to ensure they don't cause any harm."

"So the war is finally going to begin…" Kiba quietly said. He hadn't been keeping up track of how negotiations were going but he knew that even before he had been injured that war was looking inevitable.

"It looks that way, yes. We're just trying to delay it for as long as possible now." Kurenai said. "Kiba, I know this may not be possible for you but we could really use you on this mission. You're the fourth member of our team and your tracking talents would really help us here."

"I'm not going," Kiba replied almost before Kurenai had finished talking. There was no way he could go on a mission now. He would just hold them back if he went, and there was nothing he could do if they encountered any combat. On top of that, he wouldn't be much use tracking as the drugs in his system were making it so that he couldn't interpret smells right. He hadn't even been able to smell his team here before he had seen them.

"Kiba…" Kurenai weakly said as Kiba turned and left. She was worried now more then ever about Kiba. She was worried that he would never be able to recover. It had been about a month now and he still seemed to be wallowing in self pity. She knew she had to something to help him but she didn't have time now to think about it. They had to leave for the mission. She knew that even if Kiba didn't think he would be useful, he could still play a pivotal part in the war if it started.

"Okay, if Kiba isn't going to come it's just us three." Kurenai said while raising her arm signaling them to leave and they all disappeared in a puff of smoke.

xx

Kiba walked slowly back to his house. How could they have possibly thought that he would have wanted to go on another mission? Especially after what had happened on the last mission. Without Akamaru Kiba felt he was worthless. If he went, he would just end up getting somebody killed again.

This whole war thing was starting to irk at Kiba as well. He had known for a while the war was inevitable and he had always planned on fighting in it. He had planned on being there and making sure none of his loved ones would die. But as it was looking now he was just going to be sitting here, stuck in his room while everyone he knew went out and fought.

And the people he loved would die. Death would be inevitable as it was war. But for some reason Kiba had always had figured that if he was out there fighting with everyone, they would all be safe. Now he felt almost the opposite. If he went out he would just end up getting them killed. But at the same time now he felt like if he sat back and did nothing they would all die as well. His mom, his sister, his teammates, all his friends; they would all be out there fighting, dieing. And he would be sitting in here, waiting for someone to come kill him and destroy Konoha.

Kiba had been so caught up in his thoughts he hadn't even realized he had arrived at his house. He sat in a chair at the kitchen, trying to think of what to do now. All his family was currently out on missions or working. He was the only person in the house with the exception of one or two dogs who lay lazily in their beds in the corner.

After sitting at the table for an hour without even realizing it, Kiba figured it was worthless to just waste time sitting here. He decided to go and work out a little to try and get back in shape. Even if he didn't plan on going on missions any time soon it wouldn't hurt to be in good shape. Plus, Kiba figured that maybe if he exercised more his body wouldn't hurt as much when the painkillers wore off. Kiba thought that the pain had just been because he hadn't been very active at all for the past month and it was his body's way of telling him it needed to move a little.

So Kiba got up and headed towards an empty room in the back of house that he could work out in. The drugs were still having and affect on him and he was feeling a little light headed as he started exercising but decided to ignore it. He had a slight urge to take a little more of the drug by forced himself to stay, he couldn't let himself become so dependent on whatever that stuff was.

xx

Kiba had worked out intensely for several hours before becoming too exhausted to go anymore and had fallen asleep on the cold wooden floor of the empty room. He had now just awoken. Kiba looked out the window saw the sun setting in the distance, casting a brilliant orange light over everything.

Kiba groaned as he tried to stand up, his whole body was deeply aching. After several failed attempts to try and stand up Kiba gave up and moved himself over to a wall and leaned against it.

Towards the end of his work out period his body started to get sharp pains throughout it. Kiba just figured it was because he was out of shape and his muscles were getting tired. But as he went on the pain started to get more and more intense until Kiba couldn't stand up anymore. He had an urge to get some more painkillers, but forced himself to stay where he was, not wanting to rely so heavily on such a stupid drug.

But then his mind started to clear and he started thinking. He started thinking about Akamaru and the war. He started thinking about how all his friends were going to die and how he was too weak to do anything about it. Kiba tried to stop thinking about all these things but no matter what he did, he couldn't get a single good thought to come across his mind.

So he passed out there on the floor. Partially from the pain, partially from the fatigue of training. He had only now just woken up, the pain even worse then when he had fallen asleep and more depressed then ever.

And now he had more of an urge then ever to just go and take some of the drugs to get rid of the pain. He just wanted all this to go away. This intense depression: this severe pain and heaviness in all his limbs.

As Kiba sat there, propped against the wall ever longer, his hands started to shake and he started to sweat. His whole body was trembling uncontrollably and his clothes started to become damp from the perspiration. The ground felt like it was shaking and all the walls looked like they were closing in on him. The last light disappeared from outside and now all the shadows of the night were invading the room leaving Kiba in complete darkness.

This was too much, Kiba couldn't take this anymore. He tried to force himself to his feet but he was trembling too much. He started to crawl towards his room, barely able to drag himself forwards.

Kiba arrived at his room several minutes later. More exhausted and in more pain then ever. The ground now seemed to be having intense tremors and his vision was starting to loose hold, everything merging into one large blur.

Giving up on self control, Kiba's trembling hand reached up to one of his drawers and pulled out the box he had hidden away.

xx

Kiba awoke the next morning, still on his floor with the box still open next to him. He was a little sore but he had taken so much of the painkiller that the effects hadn't completely worn off yet. No one had been home the night before, which was probably a good thing.

Kiba stood up and placed the box back into the drawer. He wiped some drool of his chin and he walked to the kitchen. His face was cold and clammy. Some of the dogs had been licking him when he had been asleep so he quickly washed his face and got something to eat.

He didn't know what he would do today. He wasn't sure if his teammates would have returned by now. He doubted they had as many missions like this often took almost a week. Deciding that he didn't want to stay in the house anymore though, Kiba quickly cleaned himself off a little and headed towards the training ground.

He arrived shortly after to find no one there. It was later then when he normally arrived as he had slept late. It was probably mid morning by this time so his teammates would be here if they had returned.

Kiba sighed and sat down on one of the benches. He wasn't sure if he was going to train alone again. The last thing he wanted was a repeat of what had happened the night before. He wasn't even sure he would be able to train even if he wanted to. His limbs were all still sore and aching and he could barely walk straight.

"Are you Inuzuka Kiba?"

Kiba shot up right, he hadn't sensed anyone come near. He looked up and noticed that it was an ANBU member talking.

"Y-yes," Kiba stammered, still surprised by the visitor.

"Please come with me to the Hokage's office," the ANBU man demanded.

"Why, what's wrong?" Kiba asked, wondering why the Hokage would send out an ANBU to request his presence.

"Two of your teammates were captured yesterday on a mission and the Hokage wishes to speak with you."

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Review! Next chapter will be up soon if I get some reviews :P  



	7. The Politics of Death

Next chapter. Please review :). Next chapter will be up in the next day or two if I get some good reviews :).

And thanks to everyone that has reviewed so far. Review count sort of disapoints me, but I'm really thankful to those that did review.

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Chapter 6: The Politics of Death 

Kiba slowly followed the ANBU member as they made their way to the Hokage's office. The ANBU member had remained quite after he had told Kiba the news initially; ignoring the barrage of questions Kiba had hammered him with. Kiba's mind was racing now. How could his teammates get themselves captured? If only two of them were captured then what had happened to third? Which two had been taken? Kiba hoped that they would be alright although he knew that it was unlikely they would come out of this completely unscathed, it at all.

Kiba had heard stories about some of the enemy villages torturing their captives to get information before brutally murdering them. He had also seen what Konoha did to some of the people they had captured and prayed that his teammates wouldn't have to go through anything like that. And with all these thoughts rushing through Kiba's head, he couldn't help but think this was partly his fault as well.

The two ninja had now arrived at the Hokage's office and stood in front of the woman as she rubbed her temple while reading a small scroll. She sighed, looking up from the scroll at Kiba.

"It looks like the rock nation has taken Kurenai and Hinata captive," the Hokage said, getting right to the point. "The Rock village claims to have no killed them but other then that we don't know anything about their condition."

"What about Shino then?" Kiba asked, fearing the worst for his other teammate.

"He's fine," Tsunade said, causing Kiba to breathe a small sigh of relief knowing at least one teammate was alright. "He managed to escape using his bugs or so he said."

"So we're going to go save them right?" Kiba said anxiously.

"It's not that simple. If we send a team to retrieve them we will most likely have to directly invade the hidden rock village. If we do this, the rock will take this as an offensive move and a war will start."

"But we can't just leave them there," Kiba weakly said, fearing that he may never see his team again.

Tsunade looked down at her desk again, deep in thought. She picked up the scroll she had been reading before and examined it again. "We got a message shortly after Shino had returned," Tsunade said, showing the scroll in her hand to Kiba. "They have sent a request. They say they will release both Hinata and Kurenai if we release one of theirs that we currently have captive."

"Well do that!" Kiba yelled.

"Again, it's not so simple," Tsunade said, annoyed by the loudness of Kiba's voice. Although she had to admit it was nice to see the boy show at least a little energy for the first time in a while.

"How can it not be that simple?! We're only releasing one of theirs while they are releasing two. What's there to think about?" Kiba said, his hands morphed into tight fists.

"While both Hinata and Kurenai are very adept Shinobi and would be great assets if a war were to break out, it may not be worth it to release the Rock nin we have just to get them back," Tsunade said calmly, getting ready for Kiba's inevitable loud retort.

"Assets? How can you talk about them like that!?" Kiba cried. "We can't just abandon them! Why did you call me here anyway? Just to say 'they got captured and we're not going to do anything about it'?! I mean how important can one damn Shinobi be!?"

"He's just not a normal Shinobi. He's their top strategist and war planner. Releasing him could cause dozens of unnecessary casualties and without him the rock is at a major disadvantage."

Kiba didn't respond to this. He just growled and balled his hands into fists again.

"You can go now. I'm sure Shino would be happy to see you at the hospital. I know this must be hard for you but we still have to weigh our options before acting. I'm sorry, but I felt it was better if I told you." The Hokage said, looking back down at her desk and started to shuffle through more papers.

Kiba shallowly bowed and left the room. He still had his hands balled into fist and he was viscously gritting his teeth. Right now he was more furious then remorseful about what was happening. He knew if the Hokage refused to release the captive that Hinata and Kurenai would surely die. He also realized that releasing the captive if he was so important wasn't such a good thing. But that didn't matter right now. All that was important right now as that he had to save his teammates; Kiba didn't think he would be able to live through losing two more people that were so important to him.

He had to think of some way to save them. There was nothing he could do on his own, he was still too weak to do anything on his own, especially something like breaking into an enemy's village. Maybe he could get enough people together to form a small team to rescue them? Surely Shino would help and he could probably get a couple other people from their class.

Kiba kept thinking like this, trying to think of ways to save his teammates. All the while trying to push back the intense feeling of guilt he had right now. If he had been on the mission would have been able make a difference? Would they not be captured right now? No, even if he had gone he wouldn't have made a difference. Of anything they would just have a third hostage right now.

Kiba continued thinking as he headed towards the hospital, planning on talking to Shino. Maybe he could come up with a plan to save them, he was always better at stuff like that.

When he arrived at the hospital a nurse lead Kiba to where Shino was. Shino was sitting upright in his bed, seemingly staring forward at the wall although Kiba couldn't really tell as he still had his sunglasses on.

"Hello, Kiba" Shino said quietly, hearing Kiba as he entered the room. "So you heard what happened?"

"Yeah…" Kiba replied just as quietly. Being in the room with Shino when Shino was in this kind of mood immediately toned down Kiba's mood. After a few seconds of silence Kiba remembered why he had come. "We have to go save them, Tsunade said that it may not be worth it to rescue them but we can't just leave them there."

Shino didn't respond. He just sat there still, as still as a rock.

After a few minutes of painful silence Shino finally spoke. "I don't think we'll be able to do that."

"What do you mean!? Even if it's hard we still have to at least try and save them!" Kiba roared, angry with Shino's apparent nonchalant attitude. "You can't be happy with just doing nothing and sitting here waiting for them to die!"

"Look, Kiba. Even if we do try and rescue them, the consequences will be far greater than the reward even if we succeed. We will start a war which we can avoid for a while longer if we do not take this kind of action." Shino said, entirely seriously.

"You can't be serious. You're just going to let them sit there and die!?" Kiba said, now furious with his other teammate. "Do you want them to die or something? I mean how did you even manage to escape and leave them behind?"

"Kiba, I don't want our teammates to die, don't take it that way. If I get an opportunity to save them I will, but right now that is not possible." Shino replied, trying to calm down a now furious Kiba. "And I had no chance to save Hinata and Kurenai when I escaped. We were ambushed by 3 teams and each of us was taken in different directions by separate teams so we had no chance to communicate. I was only able to escape later when I made my bugs slowly suck out my captor's chakra and chew through the ropes they had bound me with."

"Oh…" Kiba responded, quietly now. He knew that Shino cared about their teammates and he wouldn't just abandon them, he was just angry that Shino hadn't shown as much need to get them back.

"Kiba, in war and battle, sometimes sacrifices need to be made. If Hinata and Kurenai need to die so that many more people will not, then I'm sure they will understand what they need to do, no matter how hard it is. If a war starts then many more people may be sacrificed like Hinata and Kurenai may be, and like Akamaru was."

"Akamaru wasn't a sacrifice, he didn't have to die, and it was all my fault he died. It's all my fault that Kurenai and Hinata were captured. What purpose did Akamaru's death serve?" Kiba was getting angrier still. Akamaru didn't need to be a sacrifice. Hinata and Kurenai didn't need to sacrifices. "If I was stronger, then none of them would have to be sacrifices…"

"None of this if you fault Kiba, so stop giving yourself all the blame. There was nothing you could do to save Akamaru and even if you had come with us on this mission you would not have been able to save Hinata and Kurenai. You just would have been another hostage."

After Shino say all this, Kiba couldn't hold himself up anymore and collapsed into a chair next to the bed. Whether what Shino was saying was true or not, he didn't care right now. What had happened had happened, and there was nothing he could do about it now. He wished now desperately that he could remember what had happened on that mission and how Akamaru had died. He wanted to know what Akamaru had sacrificed himself for.

"Kiba, just try to calm down. There is nothing we can do until the Hokage makes a decision." Shino said, trying to calm Kiba down.

Kina nodded and stood up weakly from the chair he had fallen in to. He gave Shino a silent good bye and walked out of the room.

He knew there was nothing he could do by himself right now, but his mind with still swarming with meaningless plots to save his friends that he knew would fail. Once Kiba had exited the hospital he decided to head back to his house. Instead he headed towards the prison. If someone was so important that they would let both Hinata and Kurenai die to keep him, then Kiba had to see what was so special about the man for himself.

Kiba had only been to the prison a couple of times. Usually only to drop off a criminal who they had captured for a mission. He wasn't sure if they would let him go in and see the man, but he had to try.

The prison was on the outskirt of town, secluded from just about everything else. The building was pretty depressing just to look at. It was made out of solid concrete and there were barely any windows on the entire thing. There was a loan metal door that was the only entrance and exit. It didn't look like Kiba would be able to sneak in even if he wanted to.

Kiba approached the door and placed his palm on the cold metal, pushing it slowly open. Inside the prison there was a bitter smell. It smelled awful, Kiba was almost unable to take the horrible smell of the stale air. Kiba proceeded to enter the room with his hand over his nose, trying to block out the acrid smell.

Sitting in front of the only door leading deeper into the prison was a loan guard at a concrete desk. The guard didn't seem to acknowledge Kiba at all and Kiba quickly realized that he was actually asleep. Kiba snuck forward, trying not to make any noise as to not wake the guard. As Kiba reached the door with successfully keeping the guard from waking he groaned as he realized the door was locked. Kiba looked around for the key, looking over the guard to see if he had any keys on him, which sadly, he didn't. Kiba was about to give up when he realized that the key was just sitting on the edge of the desk. Kiba quickly grabbed it and inserted it into the lock and turned it.

A yelp sounded from Kiba as he instantly shocked by the key. He cursed at the door and rubbed his hand.

"You can only get passed that door if using chakra of someone that is authorized to pass," The guard said, causing Kiba to jump in shock. "I was awake the whole time; I just thought it would be funny to see you get shocked." The guard grinned and walked over to the door and easily pushed it open.

"Bastard…" Kiba muttered. He was about to turn and leave, figuring that now that he was caught it was pointless to try and get further. But then he realized the guard was actually motioning for Kiba to follow him through the door. "You're going to let me go in?"

"Yup. I know who you are. The Hokage told me that you would probably come and I should let you go in." The guard said rather cheerfully. Kiba was surprised anyone could be happy in a place like this, it was just so depressing and smelled so awful.

Kiba stepped forward and followed the guard deeper into the prison. "Aren't you worried that I'm some rock Shinobi or something?" Kiba asked. The guard didn't ask for any proof that he was who he said he was and just let him go in. If he was a rock Shinobi he could easily just use a transforming technique and break in.

"Heh, I wouldn't be so stupid to just let some enemy walk in here," The guard replied, "Besides, this whole place has a special seal on it that prevents and jutsu from being used. So if you were transformed when you walked in the jutsu would instantly be dispelled I would see who you really were."

Kiba followed the guard through several turns and through a couple more doors before coming to a small corridor that ended with a dead end and had a lone cell on the left side. Kiba looked through the thick iron bars of the cell at the man he had come to see. He was dressed in tattered prison garb and he had several scars and bruises on him, obviously he had been tortured. He was sitting on the back wall of the cell, and when he saw Kiba and the guard on the other side of the bars he gave a wicked smile.

"So you came to visit, huh?" The man said, standing up and walking towards the bars. "Long time no see mutt boy."

Was this guy really a genius planner? He didn't seem too bright, especially using such taunts as 'mutt boy'. "Long time no see?" Kiba responded, "I've never seen you in my life." He had no idea who this man was, although he did look kind of familiar.

The man ignored Kiba's comment and continued to talk. "So where's your dog, huh? I am to understand that he's not with us anymore?"

This man. Now Kiba remembered who he was. It was one of the few things he vaguely remembered about that mission. He was the one that was standing over Akamaru right after the explosion. "You bastard," Kiba said, barely audibly. "You killed him didn't you?" Kiba took another step towards the cell, ready to attack.

"Heh, I guess you could say I was responsible for that giant mutt's death," The man laughed. "I gotta admit though, that thing was a pain in the ass. I must have done you a favor by killing that thing; it can't have been very fun to take care of."

This bastard! Kiba wouldn't let anyone talk about Akamaru in such a way, especially the one that had killed him! Kiba lunged towards the man, drawing a Kunai from his pouch. "I'll kill you!" Kiba bellowed as he attempted to stab at the man.

The man just laughed as the Kunai stood still just inches from his neck. The guard had jumped in front of Kiba at the last second and grabbed his arm, preventing him from stabbing the imprisoned man.

"Heh, looks like you won't be killing me today." The man said: a grin still spread across his face. "I guess you're not as grateful as I thought you'd have been then, huh? It was a pretty good trade for you though. Three of my men for a damn dog."

"Don't talk about Akamaru like that…" Kiba growled, taking a few steps back from the cell. "You better believe me. As soon as I get a chance, you're a dead man."

"Heh, better hurry up with that whole killing me thing." The man retorted, "From what I hear I may be getting out of here pretty soon. Don't worry though; when I'm back in my village I'll be sure to put you and your whole village out of its misery. It should be easy if everyone I'll be plotting against is as slow as you."

Kiba was now furious. He was practically rabid, his fangs bared and his hands clenched in tight fists.

"Okay, I think that's enough," The guard said, dragging Kiba from the room.

The man just grinned manically like he had been the entire time and waved goodbye to Kiba and the guard. "I'm looking forward to seeing you on the battlefield again." He said, letting a small laugh escape again.

"Mark my words you bastard," Kiba growled, "I will make you pay for what you did to Akamaru and my team."

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Review! I don't really know why I made Shino such an asshole in this fic, especially since he's one of my favorite charachters. Guess it just fit. If anyone has any requests or suggestions as to what they want to see in this fic, just post a review and ask. I'll try to fit it in if I can. 


	8. Downfall

Hmm, pretty quick update, had a lot of time to kill because I have midterm exams. As always, Review! They make me happy :).

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Chapter 7: Downfall

Shit, the pain was back. Kiba sat in a chair in his him, his whole body shaking and was coughing from time to time. Inside, he felt even worse. His depression was increasing rapidly and he couldn't think straight at all. No matter how bad it got though, Kiba tried to force himself not to take any more of the drug that he had stashed away in his drawer. He needed to go save his teammates, and he wouldn't be able to do that if his mind wasn't completely clear.

But as he waited, it just got worse. The pain got worse, the depression got worse: everything got worse. Kiba broke out in a cold sweat and started to tremble more. The whole room felt like it was shaking, the door was rattling on its hinges and his bed looked like it was rattling across the floor.

Kiba clutched his head, trying to get this all to stop. He started rocking back and forth slightly, trying to hopefully dull all this pain a little. He had been sitting here almost the entire time since he had returned from the prison. He wasn't quite sure how long it had been, but it was dark now so it must have been many hours. No one had returned home yet, so Kiba had sat there in his room, alone.

The entire time he had been there he had been thinking about only two things. How he was going to save his teammates, and how he was going to kill the man that killed Akamaru. No matter how much Kiba thought, he couldn't think of a single good plan. Right now it seemed like the only way to get Hinata and Kurenai back would be to trade Akamaru's Killer for them. And if he did that he most likely would never be able to get revenge for what the man had done to Akamaru, and to his life.

Kiba had hoped that Shino would be all for creating a rescue team to go and save them, but from Shino's speech to Kiba in the hospital it was obvious that he planned on doing any such thing. Kiba had been furious with Shino at the time for seemingly not caring what happened to his teammates but when Kiba actually let himself calm down for a little he realized that most of what Shino said was true. There was no way they would succeed if they attempted to assault where Hinata and Kurenai where. In fact, they didn't have the slightest clue where they were.

The most likely location for them to be would be in a prison in the rock village very similar to were Konoha currently kept their prisoners. Breaking into something like that would be nearly impossible and even if they did manage to break in, Hinata and Kurenai would most likely be killed before they could reach them. It seemed like the only possible solution was to go through with the trade the other village had proposed or start an all out war and pray that they wouldn't be killed before Kiba was able to get to them.

So in the end it looked like Hinata's and Kurenai's lives would be decided by the Hokage's decision. Based on what the Hokage had said it didn't look like it was likely that she would be willing to make the trade. Politically speaking, it may be the best course of action, but Kiba was still furious that she could just let his teammates die.

So as Kiba sat there and thought, he got worse and worse. Kiba wasn't sure what time it was now, but it must have been at least midnight. He had tried to sleep but the pain and depression was too severe. Finally giving up on self control, Kiba wobbled over to his dresser and removed the box from the drawer.

xx

Three days later Kiba was walking down the streets of Konoha. The atmosphere in the town was getting intense. Everyone knew about the growing tension between Konoha and the rock. Most people feared a war would break out or worse, another attack on Konoha could occur. Most people now lived in mild fear, memories from the time the sound and sand village had attacked still fresh in their memories.

Kiba was on his way to visit Shino again. Although he was still a little mad at Shino for being so insensitive about the Hinata and Kurenai situation, they were still teammates and Shino was Kiba's friend. The real reason Kiba was going though was he was still trying to convince Shino to help him go rescue their teammates. The Hokage had still not taken any action, which could also mean she had decided to do nothing and most likely just let Hinata and Kurenai die. Kiba hoped that he could convince Shino to round up a couple more people, maybe Shikamaru and Neiji, and they could at least figure out where Hinata and Kurenai were being held captive.

"Hello, Kiba," Said a familiar voice. Kiba turned around to find Shino, standing next to a wall, hand in pockets, bundled up in coats like he always was.

"Oh, Shino, you're out of the hospital now?" Kiba asked.

"Yes, my injuries were not too severe so I only needed to rest for a couple days," Shino responded, walking up to Kiba from his place on the wall.

"So, what are you going to do now?" Kiba asked, trying to hint at what he hoped Shino would help him do.

"Nothing," Shino responded, to Kiba's Dismay. "The Hokage has told me that she will give me a small break to recover and possibly help you train."

"Oh…" Kiba said. He wasn't going to try to push Shino too hard right now; it would just make Shino angry as less likely in the long run to help. Kiba looked down at the ground, kicking some rocks out of the way and shoving his hands in his pocket.

Shino glanced sideways at Kiba as Kiba continued to walk down the street next to him, kicking rocks and sulking. While he understood that loosing Akamaru would change Kiba he didn't expect it to have such an effect on him this long after it had happened. Yes, a big part of the reason Kiba was sulking now was because of Hinata and Kurenai, but Shino knew that he was still constantly thinking about his dog. And it wasn't really the sulking that worried Shino, it was the fact that Kiba was still just sitting here, sulking.

Shino had known Kiba for several years now and they had been through a lot together. He knew Kiba wasn't exactly the one to think things through and he would often just act on his emotions. Shino had expected that Kiba would immediately go out in search for Hinata and Kurenai or atleast make a large effort to get other people to help him. But Kiba had barely done anything. He had hinted a lot to Shino that he wanted to do something but beyond that, he hadn't seen Kiba do anything else. Had Akamaru's death really killed Kiba's confidence and self esteem this much? He knew that Kiba liked Hinata more then just about anybody else in the village, it was hard for Shino to believe that Kiba would just sit back and do nothing when someone he cared so much about was in trouble.

Shino continued to follow Kiba as the aimlessly wandered about the town. He wanted to comfort Kiba in some way, but he wasn't the best with feelings and all that stuff so he wasn't quite sure what to say. It was really quite unpleasant to be around Kiba when he was sulking like this.

"Look, Kiba," Shino finally said, breaking the silence, "Hinata and Kurenai will be alright. Even the Hokage decides against trading for them, I'm sure we will still be able to save them. The enemy gains nothing by killing them when they already have the captive. Of anything, they will just keep them alive in hopes of using them as bartering tools when a war breaks out."

"Right…" Kiba said, still sulking. He knew Shino was just trying to cheer him up, but Shino talking about Hinata and Kurenai like objects didn't really make him feel all that much better.

The two walked through town a little longer, not saying anything. Kiba started to get hungry so he said goodbye to Shino and headed home.

When Kiba arrived home he went directly to his room at sat on his bed, looking at his dresser. He was looking at one drawer in particular. He was running low on the substance stashed away in that drawer and he didn't know what he would do when he finally ran out. He would probably have to go back to the hospital and steal some more, but how long would that really be able to last? He would eventually get caught or the hospital would realize they were missing supplies and lock them up better and Kiba wouldn't be able to get any more.

As Kiba sat on the bed there he started to think about Hinata. With the exception of Akamaru, who had already gone, and his family; Hinata was the one he cared about the most in Konoha. Kiba was worried about her. She was already pretty frail and mentally weak, Kiba was worried what something like getting captured might do to her. Kiba cringed as images of her getting tortured materialized in his head. Kiba prayed that she would be alright. He didn't know what he would do if he lost her too. Now that he thought about it, the only time he hadn't been completely depressed since Akamaru's death was when he had been around her. Particularly when she had hugged him. Kiba remembered her small, fragile body pressed up against his, weakly embracing him.

He wasn't quite sure how he felt about Hinata. He really did like her; just he wasn't sure in what way. He had always protected her like a younger sister, but he felt differently towards Hinata then he did towards his own sister. He wasn't sure if this was because he liked her in a different way, or if it was just because she wasn't actually family.

All Kiba knew was that he had to get her back.

xx

It was now night. Kiba was still sitting in his room. He had spent the entire time sitting on his bed, thinking about Hinata and Akamaru. He was slowly getting more and more depressed and he felt a small ache in his leg. It was a sign that the drugs were wearing off.

Kiba didn't want these feelings right now. He hated the pain and the depression that he knew was going to come. So, knowing that he would just lose control later if he waited, he pre empted that and walked over to his dresser and opened his drawer. Kiba removed the box that had been his friend for the past few weeks and brought it back to his bed, removing the lid.

"What the Fuck!" Kiba yelled, looking down into the box. It was empty! Kiba tore through what was left of the box, looking for anything that may be left. There was nothing: just empty bottles and wrappers. Giving up on the box, Kiba through it on the floor and ran back over to the dresser. He started to tear everything out of the drawer, frantically looking for any sign of that precious substance.

After several minutes of searching, Kiba fell back onto the bed breathing heavily. He cursed to himself again. This wasn't good. He knew what was going to happen in a few hours and he knew the only way to stop it was to get more of that substance.

Kiba fell onto his back on his bed, starring at his ceiling. His mind was racing: he didn't know what to do. Should he go back to the hospital and try and steal more of the substance? He could just try to fight through the pain, but he wasn't sure if he could mange that.

Kiba continued to lie back on his bed, not knowing how much time had passed. All he knew was that the pain was getting worse and worse, and his depression was increasing.

Tap…tap…tap, tap, tap, tap. Kiba bolted upright, the tapping sound reaching his ears. What the hell was that sound? Kiba looked towards the door, where the sound was coming from. Kiba's eyes went wide when he saw what was standing in the door.

"Akamaru?" Kiba said trembling. In the door stood his dog, tongue hanging out of his mouth and his tail wagging. "T-this can't be. Y-you're dead…"

The dog trotted happily over to his master, sitting down at the foot of the bed. He let out a whine and tilted his head, trying to look cute. Kiba knew that look, he'd seen it a thousand times, Akamaru wanted to be petted. Tears were now freely flowing down Kiba's face. He moved forward slightly reaching out to touch his best friend.

"It's nice to see Akamaru again, isn't it Kiba?" A voice said from behind Kiba. Kiba darted around.

"K-kurenai, Hinata?" Kiba's voice was barely a whisper now.

"H-hi, Kiba. It's nice to see you," Hinata said, looking as nervous as always.

"Hinata…" Kiba didn't know what to think. What the hell was going on? "This isn't possible. Y-you were captured. A-and Akamaru died."

"How do you know? You never saw either happen." Kurenai said, grinning slightly. "It must have all been a bad dream."

Was this true? Was Akamaru really still alive? Were Hinata and Kurenai really not captured? Kiba turned back to Akamaru, who was still sitting there, wagging his tail, waiting to be pet. Kiba reached out his hand, wanting to feel Akamaru's fur, something he hadn't felt in far too long.

But when Kiba's hand reached Akamaru's head, instead of feeling the warm soft fur he had always felt he felt…nothing. His hand passed through Akamaru, hitting absolutely nothing.

"but then again, this could just be a dream as well." Kurenai said, now fading from behind Kiba.

Kiba sprung upright in bed. His face was still red from the tears and he was trembling. His entire body was in pain now and he felt the depression setting in.

That- that was just a dream? Kiba looked over to where Akamaru had been sitting and back to where Hinata and Kurenai had been standing to see nothing. Kiba sat there trembling for a second, before letting out a blood curdling howl. He brought his hands to his head, trying to get his sanity back. Was this because of the drugs?

There were foot steps coming down the hall towards Kiba's room now. A few moments later Hana came dashing into the room, a worried look on her face.

"Kiba! What's wrong?" Hana, said rushing over to Kiba who was still clutching his head and rocking back and forth.

Kiba didn't respond. He couldn't take this anymore. He had to do something. Ignoring Hana, he pushed past her out of his room and ran out of the front door of his house.

Kiba ran towards the border of Konoha. He couldn't just sit here and do nothing any longer. He was going to go to the rock village now. He didn't know what he was going to do, all he knew was that he was going to do something.

The pain was spreading through his entire body now and the ground felt like it was trembling under his feet. His mind was spinning, becoming unfocused. His vision was starting to blur slightly, Kiba was now barely able to see the trees in the forest he had just reached.

Trying his best to ignore the pain, Kiba pushed forward, now jumping from branch to branch in the forest.

Despite his best efforts, Kiba's jumps were quickly becoming shorter and shorter and he was barely able to remain upright because of the pain.

Finally the pain became too much and Kiba lost his footing on his jump and slammed in the branch of a tree, before falling down onto the ground. Kiba started to cough, vomit and blood came flowing out of his mouth and flowed down his chin. Kiba couldn't move. He could barely see anymore, his vision almost completely clouded. So he lay there on the ground. Bruised and in pain, gagging on a mix of vomit and blood.

"God you're so pathetic," a voice came from above Kiba. Kiba tried to focus his vision enough so he could see who it was but couldn't manage it. He couldn't even smell well enough anymore to detect their scent. Was it Hana? No, it didn't sound like his sister, and his sister would be worried about him, she wouldn't be calling him pathetic. But if it wasn't Hana who was it?

"Well I guess I should get you to a hospital or something," The voice said again. Whoever it was lifting Kiba up. "You always need saving don't you?"

xx

Kiba woke up in a bed, white florescent lights burning through his heavy eyelids. Where the hell was he now? Was he in the hospital again? Kiba couldn't open his eyes yet but his nose was still working. This place smelled like the hospital, but it didn't smell like a normal room. Where exactly in the hospital was he? And then there was that other smell…

"God damnit, not you again, Kankuro…" Kiba muttered, having gained enough strength to speak. "Oh, and hi Hana."

"Well looks like he's up," Kankuro said, "You're much less annoying asleep, you know? Much more grateful too. I save you yet again and all I get is a 'not you again'?"

"Yeah, yeah, thanks or whatever," Kiba scoffed. He tried to sit up but couldn't. He then realized that his arms had been tied down and he had an IV in his arm. He also realized that the pain was all but gone. "Umm, by the way Hana, where am I?" Kiba asked, now getting kind of worried.

"Kiba, you're in the psychiatry and rehab ward."

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Review! 


	9. Rehab

Yay, 1000+ hits. Not sure how good that is but I'm still content with it. Only 20 reviews though, which I'm grateful for, but more are always appreciated :P.

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Chapter 8: Rehab

"Why the hell am I Here!?" Kiba yelled, struggling against the restraints on his arms and legs.

"Kiba, calm down," Hana said calmly.

"Don't tell me to calm down! I need to go save Hinata and Kurenai!" Kiba bellowed, still trying squirm his way out of the straps.

"Ha! Like you could do that," Kankuro snickered, "You couldn't even stand up when I found you and you hadn't even gotten out of Konoha then!"

"Godamnit, let me out of these harnesses, I don't need to be tied down!" Kiba said, still furiously struggling against the harnesses.

"Just calm down Kiba," Hana repeated, "they're just there so you don't hurt yourself."

Kiba slowly stopped struggling to get free, figuring it was pointless right now. "Fine I'm calm. Can you please let me out now; I don't need to be here. There's nothing wrong with me."

"Right," Kankuro said sarcastically, "those track marks on your arm beg to differ." Kankuro pointed to the line of small bruised holes on Kiba's arm.

Kiba glanced at his arm, ashamed of the small marks on his arm. Above where the line of holes ended there was another small needle attached to his arm. Kiba followed the tube attached to the needle up to a small plastic bag with a clear liquid in it, slowly dripping down the tube, through the needle and into Kiba's veins.

It was then that Kiba noticed that he didn't feel as awful as he did when he had lost consciousness back in the woods. The liquid in that bag must be similar to what he was using before. But if they didn't want him to use stuff like that then why were they just putting more into him?

"It's just some bruises I got from training and stuff like that," Kiba lied, "Why would I need to be here because of that?"

"Kiba, we're not dumb, don't try to lie, it just makes you look worse," Hana said, frowning at the blatant lie.

"Well so what if I used some painkillers?" Kiba said bitterly. "I still don't need to be here, I'll just stop taking them ok? Plus if you don't want me taking them…then why the hell if there a damn needle in my arm!" Kiba shook his left arm violently, as if to try to shake the needle out.

"Because you were going into with drawl," Tsunade said, as she walked into the room. "Just going cold turkey can be very bad for you, especially when you were using something as strong as you were. We are going to have to wean you off slowly so you don't go into with drawl again."

"Oh," Kiba said quietly, calming down for just a second. But after that second, Kiba decided that he wouldn't be beaten that easy. "Well I still don't need to be here! I'll just slow down taking that stuff at home, Hana can supervise. Just let me out of this god damn bed and let me go home!" Kiba said as he started to try and pry himself free from the restraints again.

"Kiba, there is no point in denying that you still haven't gotten over Akamaru's death," the Hokage said. "I'm frankly pretty surprised how long it is taking you to get over this. I always thought you were stronger then this. But no matter what you think, you do need to stay here until your better. At the rate you were going you would have been dead within two weeks from either an overdose or chances are you would have killed yourself in some way."

Kiba growled at this last statement. Did the Hokage really think he was so weak that he would just kill himself? "Why should I get over Akamaru's death? He was my best friend and my partner, I'm useless without him." Kiba coldly said, avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room.

"Look, Kiba, I know how you feel," Tsunade said, "But despite what you think, you are not useless, but you will become useless if you can't put all this behind you."

"How would you know how I feel? You're not the one that had your best friend die."

"You're not the only one that's ever had some one close to them die," The Hokage said, almost angrily. "I've been alive almost 50 more years then you as a Shinobi, I've seen more people die that I cared about then you could imagine. I know exactly what you're feeling and I know that if you can just put this all behind you, you will get better. So you're going to stop arguing, and listen to me. Okay, brat?"

Kiba kept his eyes averted, knowing he had been defeated. Using his peripheral, Kiba looked over everyone that was in the room now: his sister, the Hokage and Kankuro. He knew that they cared about him and that they were trying to help him, yet for some reason it still felt like they were betraying him in some way.

"Well, I'm going to leave," Kankuro said as he stood up from the chair he had been in. "I've got to get back to Suna. Maybe I'll see you next time around, eh Kiba? That is, unless your still fucked up. I've got a rule that I'm not friends with druggies and really depressed people; it's to annoying to deal with." Kankuro turned and started to leave the room.

"Um, Kankuro," Kiba murmured.

"What?" Kankuro said, turning back around, looking annoyed he had to stay longer.

"Um, uh, thanks for saving me or whatever," Kiba said quietly, still avoiding eye contact.

"Yeah, no problem," Kankuro responded, nodding his head slightly. And with that he left.

Now that Kankuro had left, the room was eerily quite. Kiba lay in the bed, staring at the ceiling, still trapped by the restraints.

After a long while, Kiba broke the silence. "So what's going to happen to Hinata and Kurenai?" Kiba asked, looking to the Hokage for his answer.

"We don't know yet. The council is still deliberating the best course of action." The Hokage replied, trying to say it without enraging Kiba again.

Another long silence ensued. Wordlessly, the Hokage and Hana got up to leave.

"Umm, Miss Hokage?" Kiba quietly said.

The women turned to Kiba, a questioning look on her face.

Kiba's eyes were getting watery now so he squeezed the shut, trying not to let any tears fall down his face. "Please don't let them die."

xx

The next week and a half went by very slowly for Kiba. He spent the entire time trapped in rehab wing of the hospital, not being allowed to leave. They didn't keep him strapped down much though, only if he started throwing a fit or something of that nature. Kiba was forced to spend most of the time trapped in a small room, with just one small tiny window and a bed.

The nurses would give him some of the painkillers from time to time, although it was always a smaller amount each time. Slowly, Kiba started to not have the with drawl symptoms at all and stopped feeling the need to take more. Although Kiba was grateful for this, he still wished he didn't have to be in this place to get these results.

Most of the time that Kiba spent out of his room was spent in either group therapy sessions or private talks with a psychologist. Kiba tried to keep to himself during the group talks. A lot of the people that were there besides him seemed to be almost completely insane and Kiba started to feel like some kind of retard for having to be there.

What shocked Kiba the most about the group sessions though was the amount of really young people that were there. Although most of them just came for one or two of the sessions and then never came again it was still surprising just how many there were. Most of them, Kiba had been told, came usually after one of their first big missions or after their first encounter with death.

In fact most of the other people there were there for the same reason. Being a Shinobi could be a very stressful thing and many people just couldn't take it anymore. Kiba had heard of many people committing suicide because they became so depressed and had even heard of some people getting addicted to painkillers and other drugs like he had. Most of the older Shinobi that had retired from doing missions were heavy drinkers, trying to forget for at least a little some of the painful memories that had gathered from a life time of being on the battlefield.

The private sessions weren't very enjoyable either. The psychologist, the same one he had met he didn't know how long ago when he had gotten his leg fixed, kept on prodding and asking questions about Akamaru's death and what Kiba felt. This annoyed Kiba, as he wasn't one to talk about his feelings like this, especially to someone he still deemed a stranger. Although he had to admit that slowly the sessions did help a little and he was slowly coming to terms with what had happened, although it was still painful. And yet through all this talk about Akamaru's death and what had happened, Kiba still could not remember how Akamaru had died.

And during this entire time, when he wasn't forced to think about Akamaru, Kiba was thinking about one thing: Hinata and his teammates. He still hadn't gotten any word on what had happened with that situation. Surely by this time some sort of resolution had been made. Kiba found himself constantly worried for Hinata and Kurenai; praying that somehow they would live.

Shino and Kiba's family visited from time to time. They told Kiba that when he was out of this place they would help him train and get back to his prior condition. They were careful to not bring up anything that may be sensitive for Kiba, like the current condition of his two other teammates.

After a week and a half, this place was starting to become unbearable to Kiba. He couldn't stand being stuck in these small, white rooms for such a long time. He couldn't stand all the other messed up people like him; talking to them just made Kiba feel even worse. Kiba especially couldn't stand the smell of this place. Kiba never had liked the smell of the hospital, it smelled, well, sick. And even after a week and a half the smell was still very unpleasant. What Kiba couldn't stand most about this place though, was the fact that he was trapped here, unable to do anything, while his teammates sat in an even smaller room somewhere in the distance, on the verge of death.

xx

On this particular day, Kiba was happy. Well, not happy, Kiba had still not progressed to the point where he could consider himself happy. He was glad, though. Glad that today he would finally be able to get out of this hell hole. It had no been about two weeks since he had first been admitted. Kiba was now completely off of any kind of painkillers and for the most part, could be considered stable.

Kiba still thought about Akamaru constantly and was still to an extent, depressed. But the psychologist had deemed him 'sane' enough to be released. Typically, Kiba would probably be forced to stay for longer till he was 100 percent better, but with the inevitable upcoming war; they wanted to get Kiba back into training and onto the battlefield as quick as possible, even if he was still a little unstable.

Kiba walked quickly to the reception desk on the inside of the wing. He was eager to get out, to get away from this horrible place and this horrible smell. He wanted to get back to training as soon as he could. Although Kiba still wasn't completely convinced on how useful he could be, the psychologist had boosted his confidence enough so that Kiba would at least go back and train.

Kiba stood at the reception window impatiently as the nurse behind it filled out some forms and asked some questions. Eventually she finished up and smiled at Kiba as she let him out of the hell he had been in for the past two weeks. Although he was out of this particular ward Kiba was still not out of the hospital. He walked briskly towards the exit, wanting to breathe in some fresh air as soon as possible.

As he approached the door, Kiba saw a familiar waiting for him: Shino. Shino had told Kiba that as soon as he got out they would go and start to train.

"Hi, Shino," Kiba said, as he opened the door and let the fresh air outside wash over him, purging the bitter hospital air. "So are we going to train?"

"Yes," Shino replied as he turned away from Kiba and started to walk in the direction of the training grounds. Kiba followed, glad to be out in the fresh air.

As the two got closer to their destination, Kiba realized what he was dressed in. He currently had on thin white pants and a shirt of the same quality. He couldn't train with this stuff on. He quickly excused himself and told Shino to go on to the training grounds without him so he could grab his equipment and his clothes.

When Kiba arrived at his house, it was empty. His sister and his mother had gone on another mission so neither would be home for the next couple days. It didn't really bother Kiba though, he didn't plan on staying in the house much; he needed to train as much as he could.

Once in the house, Kiba quickly ran to his room and threw on his normal black clothes. He grabbed his kunai and equipment pouches and quickly attached them to his leg. Instinctively next Kiba grabbed his forehead protector and was about to put it on. Kiba stopped himself here and looked down at the metal plate. Instead of putting it on his head like normal he just decided to throw it in his pocket, he wasn't quite sure if he was ready to wear that again.

Kiba stopped for a second to take a look at his room. He hadn't been there in a while and the last time he had been there he had destroyed a good part of it. It was clean now though, Hana probably had tidied it up while he was in the hospital. Kiba opened the drawer where he had been hiding the painkillers before, but now all traces had been removed.

Kiba headed back towards the training grounds now. He was eager to start training again now. He made the trip from his house to the grounds quick this time, running the distance to get warmed up.

"Hey Shino." Kiba said as he arrived at the training grounds. "Ready to start tra-."

"Hi Kiba. It's good to see you."

"K-Kurenai." Kiba stammered, not being able to believe what he was currently looking at. "H-H-Hinata?" Both his teammates were standing in front of him, badly bruised and bandaged. "Is this another hallucination?

Kurenai shook her head; it looked like she could be crying.

"S-Shino, can you see them?" Kiba asked waveringly.

Shino nodded, looking directly at their other teammates, showing that he could see them.

"But how?"

"The Hokage decided to trade us for their strategist, she decided that she couldn't let any of her people die while there was something she could do to save them." Kurenai responded, she seemed a little ashamed of this fact. That because of them Konoha had lost a major advantage.

Kiba didn't know what to think right now. He was overjoyed by the fact that Hinata and Kurenai were back safe, but now he didn't know if he could ever get his revenge.

"When did you get back?" Kiba asked.

"A couple of days ago. We've been in the hospital recovering from our wounds." Kurenai responded.

"Why did no one tell me? Did you know Shino?" Kiba asked, annoyed that he had been uninformed and was forced to worry about them.

Shino nodded. "They wanted to tell you themselves. I don't know why because you obviously were worried and it would have helped you to know they were safe."

Kiba looked to Hinata now, examining the many bruises and scars on her body. "Are you okay Hinata? Did they do anything to you?"

Hinata nodded, tears in her eyes. "I'm fine Kiba," she responded. "It's good to see you again."

Kiba couldn't take it anymore. Tears of joy started freely flowing down his face; he didn't even try to conceal them this time. He was so glad that she was alive. He didn't care if that other man got away; he just wanted Hinata to be okay. He couldn't take someone else so important to him dieing again.

"Kiba, are you okay?" Hinata asked, always being the caring one.

Kiba nodded. "I'm just so glad your okay." And with that Kiba approached Hinata and put his arms around her; bringing her into a tight embrace.

Hinata was surprised at first. She was crying as well now. She didn't know what to do with the boy embracing her, crying on her shoulder. After the shock had worn off, she lifted her arms slowly and put them around Kiba's back, hugging him back, crying on his shoulder as well. They stayed like that for a while, Shino and Kurenai looking on.

xx

Kiba walked back to his house slowly. For the first time in a long time he felt at least a little happiness. They ended up not training that day and just sat around under some of the trees and talked. Hinata and Kurenai told them what had happened while they were captive, but only for a short while because memories of some of what had happened to them became too painful for them to retell.

The team would all get back to training in the next couple days. Hinata and Kurenai were both still injured, although not terribly so. Kiba just hoped that they weren't damaged at all mentally. He knew how fragile a person Hinata could be some time and he knew how traumatic all of what had happened must have been for her.

Kiba walked slowly through the woods near his house, thinking about all of what had happened. He was elated that Hinata and his teammates were okay. He was still somewhat conflicted about the man that had killed Akamaru, but he decided he could just kill him when a war broke out. In the end it was worth it though, he would choose his teammates over revenge every time.

As Kiba continued to walk he sensed a presence. He was able to jump out of the way just in time to avoid a Kunai that collided with the tree next to where he had just been standing. There was a piece of paper dangling off the end of it. Kiba ducked and covered his head, preparing for an explosion if it was an exploding tag. But it didn't explode. Kiba stood up and examined the paper attached to the Kunai. It was a note.

By this point the presence he had sensed had gone. Kiba decided against chasing after whoever it was, as it would be nearly impossible to find the person without having an idea who they were.

Kiba looked back down at the note. There wasn't much too it, it was just a small piece of paper with only a couple words scrawled on it. 'Midnight, Northwest woods' was all it said on it. It had no name or identifying marks on it. Kiba sniffed it, hoping that the person had left their scent on it. Kiba quickly withdrew as an unpleasant bitter smell hit his nose. It smelled like some kind of oil. Whoever threw it obviously knew about his sense of smell, and poured this stuff on it to cover their scent.

Who wanted to meet him in the northwest woods at midnight? Kiba looked at the sky, and based on the position of the setting sun he guessed it was only about six now. He still had several hours to decide what he would do. Stuffing the note and Kunai in his pocket, Kiba continued towards his house, staying on his toes in case anything else happened to come flying towards his head again.

xx

It was late now, past 11. Shino walked slowly through the woods of the training grounds. He had been unable to sleep because his bugs were restless and decided to take a walk to try and calm them. He was glad that his teammates were safe. He knew that politically, the Hokage's ideas were not the best, but he decided she had made the right choice. Keeping those important to you alive is the most important thing.

As Shino walked, a glint from a piece of metal caught his eye. He walked over to the metal object lying in the grass not to far from where he and his teammates usually met. When he arrived at the object he recognized it immediately. It was Kiba's forehead protector. He knew it was his because of the condition it was in. The metal on the front had several small scratches on it and the fabric on the side was torn in several places. He always told Kiba he should get a new one because he would embarrass Konoha by wearing such a mangled thing. But Kiba always digressed and said that he liked this one, and that the new ones always had a weird smell to them.

Shino picked up the fore head protector and held it in his hand. Kiba hadn't been wearing it that day; he must have had it in his pocket and dropped it. Having nothing better to do, Shino decided to bring it back to Kiba now.

As Shino approached the Inuzaka's house, he noticed none of the lights were on. This didn't surprise him as Kiba was most likely already sleeping and none of his family were currently home. Shino approached the front door and decided to leave the forehead protector inside so no one could take it. He opened the door, knowing that it would be unlocked as Kiba always forgot to lock it when he was the only one home.

Shino walked into the kitchen and dropped the forehead protector on the table to Kiba would see it in the morning. Content with himself, Shino was about to leave when something else caught his eye. A lone Kunai with a piece of paper attached to it sitting on the table. Curious, Shino lifted it up and read the note.

'Midnight, northwest woods' it read. Shino looked at the clock; it was now 11:45. Shino bit his lip; this could be bad if this note was real. It an enemy had given this to Kiba, then things could end up badly. Kiba was not in any condition to fight now.

Shino quickly walked to Kiba's room, hoping he was still there so he could stop him from going. Shino knew Kiba would be mad at him if he was actually in his room. Kiba had always told Shino that he could just walk in at night and leave something on the kitchen table if he wanted, which Shino had to do often because Kiba often forget things everywhere. But Kiba had made it very clear that he didn't want anybody in his room while he was sleeping. Shino understood, he wouldn't want people coming in and watching him sleep either.

But that didn't matter right now; Shino would rather have Kiba mad at him then have Kiba be dead. Shino quickly made his way to were Kiba's bedroom was and looked in the door. He cursed. No one was there. Shino quickly searched the rest of the house but didn't find Kiba anywhere.

This was bad. Shino quickly exited the house and headed towards the northwest woods as quick as he could, hoping to stop anything terrible from happening.

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I wasn't too happy with a lot of this chapter. I just couldn't write some of the parts the way I wanted to and I started to get pissed off. Oh well. Review! Tell me what you think! 


	10. FaceOff

Alright, here's the next chapter. You know what to do :P. Next chapter may not be up for a little because I'm most likely going to be busy with school (but if I get a lot of reviews I'll get it up a lot sooner :D).

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Chapter 9: Face-Off 

Kiba jumped cautiously from tree to tree, trying to sense anything that may be out of place. It was just about midnight now and it was pitch black outside, the only light showing being from a crescent moon overhead in a nearly cloudless sky. He was in the northwestern woods of Konoha, searching for any sign of the person that had left the note.

Although he knew it could be risky to come out here alone, Kiba had to know who had given him that note. He figured it may be one of his friends trying to play a joke on him but when he thought about it, none of them would do something like this. Shikamaru would be too lazy, Naruto would be too dumb and would have left his scent on it, Shino and his teammates wouldn't do something like this, Kankuro had left for Suna earlier and everyone else he could think of would have no reason to do this. So because of this, Kiba came to the conclusion that this person most likely would be an enemy. Meaning that this was most likely a trap.

So Kiba moved on cautiously. He wouldn't get caught in a trap this time. He had the advantage here. If it was an enemy, they wouldn't know the environment as well as Kiba did, and plus, because of Kiba's superior sense of smell he could track down the enemy easier.

The note had been vague. It had just said the northwest woods, nothing more. The woods to the northwest covered many miles before turning into mountains and lakes. It could take days to cover the entire region if you didn't know what you were looking for. So Kiba worked on, weaving through the woods, trying to cover as much area as possible while still being careful not to fall into any traps.

And then it happened. That bitter scent that had been on the note caught his nose. Kiba stopped on a branch. At first he thought it may be the note that he had originally gotten, but he then remembered he had left it back at his house on the table. The smell was dim right now, still fairly distant. But now Kiba knew where to head. He made his way towards the smell now, more cautious then ever. The smell got stronger and stronger, Kiba didn't know exactly what it was but it smelled sort of like the oil in one of the lamps Kiba had back at his house.

And then Kiba saw it. A very dim light in a clearing: where the source of the smell was. Was it just an oil lamp? No, it couldn't just be a lamp; this smell was much stronger then that of the lamp.

Kiba approached the light now, almost at a crawl, making sure there were no traps. Strangely there were none and Kiba made his way to the edge of the small clearing where the light and smell came from. He crouched high in a tree looking down at the light, trying to distinguish what it was. The strong smell of the oil was making it impossible to distinguish any other smells, and if anyone was near by, it would be impossible for Kiba to determine who or where they were. This worried Kiba, now thinking that this may be the trap.

So Kiba sat up in the tree, examining the scene. He realized now there was a person holding the light, brining it up and down every now and then. Kiba couldn't make out who it was due to the low light and distance. He couldn't pick up their scent either because of the overwhelming smell of oil. Kiba looked harder, trying to make out any distinguishing features of the person. Based on what he could make out, whoever it was appeared to be male, a little less then six feet tall and was…smoking?

Kiba dropped down to a lower branch trying to get closer, but couldn't make out anything else even from the slightly closer distance. Kiba tried to look for a better vantage point but could find one. The only way he could get closer was to drop to the ground and enter into the clearing. If he did that, he would easily be noticed.

Pulling out a Kunai, Kiba put into action the only other plan he could think of at the moment. Crouching down Kiba placed his hands on the branch to give himself more power. Then concentrating his chakra in his legs, Kiba lunged as fast as he could at the man. The man detected Kiba's presence, but too late. Before he could do anything Kiba had the knife at his neck and one of his arms twisted behind his back.

The man laughed, cigarette still in his mouth. "So you actually came, eh?" The man said in a very familiar voice.

Once Kiba had gotten this close, he immediately know who it was. "I should have known it was you.." Kiba growled, tightening his grip on the mans arm and pushing the knife closer to the mans jugular. "I can't say that you were very smart to come here, but it's a good thing for me, because now I can get my revenge. I just thought I would have to try a little harder to find you. Do you have a death wish or something?"

Akamaru's killer laughed again, inhaling and exhaling some more smoke from the cigarette. "Don't think I'm that dumb. Do you know what your standing on?" The man said, spitting the cigarette out of his mouth.

_Shit!_ Kiba panicked, letting go of the mans arm and removing the kunai from his neck. At his feet was a thin layer of the oil he had smelled before...and the cigarette was slowly falling to the ground, about to ignite the fuel. From the tree, Kiba hadn't been able to see the ground, and hadn't thought the man would do something like this.

Noticing Kiba'a distraction, the man threw an elbow into the Inuzaka's chest sending him flying backwards. Kiba landed on more oil, sliding backwards on the slick surface towards the edge of the clearing, oil soaking his jacket.

The cigarette now landed on the oil, instantly igniting the entire clearing, with only a small circle where the man was standing being free of fire. The fire had spread almost instantly and Kiba barely had time to spring to his feet and jump to the nearest branch, narrowly avoiding being completely engulfed in flames. Kiba hadn't acted entirely quick enough though, and some of the fire had caught onto the oil on his jacket and his back was lit on fire. Kiba quickly tore off the jacket as quick as possible, throwing the ignited garment down into the sea of flames below.

Being too busy trying to prevent himself from burning to a crisp, Kiba didn't notice the four shuriken flying in his direction. Kiba dodged as quick as he could but wasn't quick enough. He winced as two shuriken tore gashes in his now bare arm and a third one embedded itself in his shoulder. The last shuriken flew just millimeters from Kiba's neck and flew off into the darkness.

Kiba let out a cry, the pain from all the injuries he had just sustained hitting him all at once. His back was now burnt in several places and his right arm was torn and had a shuriken embedded in it. Since he had removed his jacket, now all he wore was a fishnet shirt and a thin kevlar chest plate. Kiba cringed as he removed the shuriken from his shoulder with one swift pull. His entire right arm was now covered in blood, which was now freely flowing from the two gashes in his arm as well as from the gaping hole the shuriken had left.

Kiba cursed himself for being so dumb. He hadn't analyzed the situation well enough and had been caught in a trap he should have easily seen. On top of that, he had been badly injured by attacks he would have easily been able to avoid had he been in shape now. But because he had not been training regularly for almost a month his reaction time was slow and he wasn't as fast as he used to be.

This could be bad. This man was obviously smarter then him, and he also was not as injured as Kiba was at the moment. The only thing Kiba could think of that could be considered an advantage was that the man had been in captivity for at least a month and had to be out of training as well.

The man was laughing again. Kiba looked at him, examining him closer now that the area was completely lit up by the fire. The man was standing in the middle of the giant circle of fire. The flames were just inches from engulfing his entire body. His face was still badly bruised from being imprisoned and beaten but other then that he didn't appear to have any injuries.

"You really aren't very bright are you?" the man jeered, "To fall into a trap like this. Although I guess I should have expected that, seeing as how easily you fell into those other even more obvious traps way back when."

"I'll kill you," Kiba growled, "You're the one thats not bright, because now you're going to die. You should have just stayed in your damn village, what reason do you even have to be here?"

"Heh, you should know that. Do you not think of the consequences to your actions ever?" The man asked, while simultaneously forming a hand seal. The ground rumbled as the ground turn to mud and the fire was slowly sucked down, extinguishing itself.

"What the hell are you talking about...?" Kiba muttered, getting into a fighting position.

"You think you're the only one that lost someone on that mission?" The man yelled, this was the first time the man seemed to show any anger at all, he had remained so cool and calm before. "You killed three of my friends that day! I deserve vengeance as much as you do!"

Kiba relaxed from his fighting stance. He had never thought about that incident in that way. He had almost completely forgotten about the three other rock nin that he and his teammates had killed. He must feel the same way about his teammates dieing that Kiba felt about Akamaru's death.

"That doesn't change anything," Kiba growled in response, "You killed Akamaru so now you're going to die. "

The man started to laugh again, he had recomposed himself and was now calm and collected. "I didn't kill the damn mutt of yours. You don't even remember what happened do you?"

"Shut up!" Kiba yelled, "Just because I don't remember doesn't mean I don't know you're the one responsible for his death!"

"Heh, I guess it is true I'm responsible for his death in some ways, but I didn't kill him." the man was a little still. "But I _know_ you're the one that killed my friends. Unlike you, I remember what happened."

Kiba stayed still, starring down the man in front of him. "This talk is pointless. If you're all done now, it's about time you die."

xx

Shino ran towards the northwestern corner of Konoha, towards the woods. It was nearly midnight now and Shino went as fast as he could, praying that Kiba didn't do anything stupid. If Kiba got into a fight, he would lose, there was no way he could win in a fight when he was so out of training.

Shino reached the edge of the woods and cursed to himself. He just realized how big the woods are and how long it could take to find Kiba. Chances are if something did happen, it would happen before Shino could locate him. Shino let some bugs escape from his body, ordering them to spread throughout the woods to find the Inuzaka.

With that Shino jumped into the trees and took off into the woods. Even though he wanted to find Kiba as quick as possible he still had to move cautiously. If it was an enemy that had written Kiba the note he would have to be careful to avoid any traps. The best result that Shino could think of right now was that he would find the enemy before Kiba did or find Kiba before Kiba found the enemy.

After 10 minutes of searching Shino was starting to get worried when nothing had turned up. It had to be past midnight by now, and with every minute that passed the chances that he would find Kiba in one piece were decreasing. Just when Shino was starting to loose hope that he would find Kiba, he saw it…

The dark forest seemed like it lit up. Shino looked on in horror as he saw a giant flame erupt not to far off in the distance. This was bad. Had Kiba activated another trap? There was no way Kiba could have survived that if he had been directly hit. Well, at least he knew where he was.

Shino took off, jumping from tree to tree as fast as he could. Strangely the fire had gone out completely almost instantly. If that fire he had seen was just a jutsu then that could potentially be worse then a trap. Shino picked up his speed even more, praying Kiba was still alive.

xx

Kiba assumed a fighting position and growled viscously. He was sick of talking. He was going to finish this now.

Akamaru's killer stayed still in the middle of the clearing, still laughing lightly. "So, are you going to attack me or what?" The man taunted, pulling a kunai from his pouch in the process. "I'm kind of tired, so if you'd just be a good mutt and attack me, I'll kill you quickly so we can all go home. I hope you like your new home by the way, although I heard hell wasn't the most pleasant place."

That was it, without any more hesitation Kiba lurched forward, fangs bared. Before he even got close to the enemy he was pulled back, something stopping him from moving forward.

"Shino!" Kiba cried angrily, "Let me go, I have to kill him."

"Kiba, stop. You're in no condition to fight." Kiba replied calmly.

"What the hell are you doing here anyway," Kiba yelled, trying to force his way out of Shino's hold.

"I found a note in your house. And since I'm your teammate and your friend, I came to stop you from getting yourself killed." Shino replied calmly.

"Damn it! You're not doing anything but getting in the way! If you're my friend then let me kill this bastard! I have to avenge Akamaru!"

"Kiba, I can't let you do that," Shino calmly stated, still trying to hold back Kiba.

"Why the fuck not!"

"Because you will get yourself killed. And if you do kill him, you will start a war."

"He attacked me! How would me killing him start a war?" Kiba said, he had stopped trying to get out of Shino's hold and calmed down a little.

"He is one of their top officials. Killing him would be the last straw," Shino replied, letting go of his hold on Kiba now that he had calmed down.

"It doesn't fucking matter! Everyone already knows a war is going to start anyway. Just let me kill him. I can't let the one that killed Akamaru just walk away!" Kiba quietly said. He was defeated right now. If Shino didn't want him to fight, he wouldn't be able to.

"Kiba, he didn't kill Akamaru…" Shino said slowly, hoping Kiba wouldn't get mad at him for saying it. What he really didn't want was Kiba to ask what did happen. This wasn't the time of the place for him to explain that.

"See I told you," The man said, finally entering the conversation. "I told him that too and he didn't seem to believe me. You should really listen to you're teammate mutt, he's telling the truth on all of this. If you kill me, you are going to start a war. Although I guess the war is inevitable like you said, although that's only so because of what you did you damn mutt."

"What I did?" Kiba growled, "What the fuck did I do? I let my dog die and now I start a war? And if you didn't kill Akamaru, then who the hell did?!"

"Again, never thinking about the consequences," the man said, shaking his head. "What do you think is going to happen when you kill one of our top negotiators _and_ his son?"

"What are you talking about…" Kiba stammered.

"You don't remember that either?" The man sighed, "Do you have amnesia or something? I think you'd remember stabbing someone to death and tearing apart some poor child with those sharp claws of yours. Do you really not remember? It was only like a week before that mutt of yours died."

Kiba tried to retort but couldn't. Had he really done this much to push the war forward? Was it really this much his fault? He remembered who the man was talking about now. The mission that Shino had asked about a long while back. The one that, in a way, had caused all of this.

"But even if you can't kill me. I'm still going to kill you." The man continued. "I'm going to kill your little friend too mutt. Don't think I don't remember you, you bug freak. You're just as responsible for my teammates deaths as the dog boy."

It seemed as if the rock nin was done talking now as well. He clapped his two hands together to form a seal and he mud on the ground started to churn again. Little licks of fire started to pop up from the earth, lighting up the scene again. The fire started to intensify, growing larger then it had been when it was lit the first time. The mud and fire started to climb up the tree towards Shino and Kiba.

"That's pointless," Shino said calmly, completely un phased by the rock nins show of power.

Almost on cue, the rock nin released the jutsu, the fire retreating and settling back down. The man crouched over, breathing deeply, body shaking slightly.

"Wh-what the hell?" The man stuttered. "I don't have any more chakra. What the hell did you do!?"

"It's your fault for talking so much," Shino responded. "I sent my bugs to slowly eat away at your chakra. By the time you started to fight you only had enough to start that jutsu."

"B-but, I would have noticed if they were stealing it," the man said, trying to make sense of what just happened.

"Not true. My bugs can numb you where they bite you so you would never know what was happening. On top of that, I only attacked you with a small amount so there was no way you could notice them."

"Heh, so you beat me. Bravo," the man said, laughing again now.

"What's so funny?" Shino calmly asked.

"What are you going to do now? You said it yourself, you can't kill me. If you capture me again it would be the same as killing me, you would start a war." The man said, laughing still.

Shino remained quite. He had to think what the best course of action was. He looked over to Kiba, who was still standing next to him. Surprisingly, Kiba had remained quite. He looked over Kiba, noticing finally his condition. He had been too busy dealing with the enemy to check up on Kiba's status but now that he had the enemy beaten he finally got a chance to look over Kiba.

Kiba's jacket had been discarded and he wore only his fishnet shirt and armor. His back where his skin wasn't covered by the armor was burnt pretty badly and his right arm was covered almost completely in blood with two large gashes and a hole in the shoulder. Whatever he decided to do, he had to do it quick. Kiba had to get medical condition or he could bleed out or his wounds could get infected.

Looking at Kiba, Shino started to wonder why he hadn't tried anything again yet. It wasn't like Kiba just to give up because he was told to do so. Would Letting Kiba kill this man help him get better. Although Shino had a lot of problems with Kiba, he was still his teammate and his friend and he really wanted to see Kiba go back to normal. Would killing this man allow Kiba to at least take a step towards that?

Kiba glanced over at Shino now. Before he had just been starring down at the man who was now on his knees, trying to remain conscious. "So Shino, what are we going to do," Kiba said weakly.

Shino looked at Kiba again. He was breathing deeply and his eyes were half closed. He must be getting tired from the blood loss. He didn't seem angry anymore, of anything, he almost looked confused. He had a look similar to the time when he had returned from the mission when he had killed the negotiator.

"Kill him."

Kiba gave Shino a shocked, questioning look. The man also made a shocked sound and gave an equally surprised look.

"But you just said we couldn't…" Kiba said, not moving from his position.

"Don't you want to kill him?" Shino responded, "Like you said, the war is going to start anyway. This is the man that killed Akamaru. Wouldn't killing him make you feel better?"

"I guess…" Kiba responded weakly again. "But you just said he didn't kill Akamaru."

Shino cursed himself for saying that before. It would only do Kiba harm if he knew what really had happened. "Look, Kiba. He is the one responsible for Akamaru's death. Kill him and you will have avenged Akamaru."

Kiba looked angry now. "Damn it! You guys have always been saying that!" Kiba cried, tears were now falling down his face. "He's 'responsible' for his death. What the hell is that supposed to mean! Who killed Akamaru? Pleas, tell me. I just want to know what happened to him…"

Shino remained quite, starring blankly at his emotionally drained teammate. He didn't want to tell Kiba what happened but it looked like he may have to. It would be better he told him then Kiba finding out from someone else, after all.

Noticing a chance to maybe save his own life, the one _responsible_ for Akamaru's death spoke. "Tell him. Tell him how I'm not the one that killed his damn dog."

"Shino…please…"Kiba pleaded. He didn't care if what Shino told him was painful, he just wanted to know what had happened to his best friend.

Shino hesitated. He didn't want to do this. He was worried what Kiba would do if he remembered what had happened.

"Please…"

"Kiba…" Shino started slowly.

"Please…"

"Kiba, you killed Akamaru."

* * *

Hope that didn't get too predictable towards the end. Tell me what you think about what happened in this chapter. Next chapter is a flashback chapter that will explain all of this better. Hope no one thinks that this got a little too random and over the top.

REVIEW! Next chapter will be up soon if I get lot's of reviews :).


	11. Requiem

Sorry it took a little longer for this chapter. Still review please :). This chapter has some graphic violence so be warned. Oh yeah, and this chapter is a flashback just in case you can't figure that out on your own when you read.

* * *

Chapter 10: Requiem

"Akamaru, let's go," Kiba said, picking up the rest of his equipment before heading for the door.

The large white dog whined its acknowledgment and got up from its resting spot in the corner of the room and followed his master.

The two of them headed towards the front gate of the village, where they were to meet the rest of their team for the mission they had to go on.

Kiba groaned as he walked into the bright sun of the outside world. His head hurt like crazy already so the bright sun wasn't helping. He had taken a couple of aspirin before leaving, but they didn't do much to get rid of the dull ache.

Akamaru nudged Kiba with his head, emitting a small whine, signaling to Kiba to get on his back. The dog sensed that his master wasn't feeling well, and he wanted to do whatever he could to make him feel better, but Kiba was still being rather cold towards him and insisted on walking. Akamaru didn't much like the way Kiba had been treating him for the past week, he had been unnaturally bitter towards him and was just generally in a bad mood. On top of that Kiba had been ignoring him a lot at home, whenever they were in the house alone, Kiba would just mope around the house, drinking that foul smelling beverage.

Of course whenever they were around anyone else, Kiba would act normal, he didn't like talking about his feelings much, so he did anything he could to avoid any uncomfortable conversations. Normally Kiba would open up to Akamaru whenever he had something on his mind, but no such luck this time. No matter how much Akamaru pestered him to tell him what was wrong, Kiba just ignored him, usually telling Akamaru to leave him alone: although not quite that nicely.

The duo arrived at the gates with Kiba's headache worse then ever and Akamaru sulking, walking a short distance behind his master. The rest of the team was already there, Hinata talking quietly with Kurenai and Shino standing off to the side, warming up his bugs. Kiba had gotten a late start, almost unable to drag himself out of bed because of his piercing headache.

Kurenai greeted the two as they arrived, obviously peeved by their tardiness. She quickly explained the mission, going as quickly as possible because they were already running late. It was a simple mission; all they had to do was escort an architect who was in town working on a new building, back to his own village on the edge of the fire country. Normally a genin team could handle this, but the architect paid handsomely, specifically requested a more talented team. He even said that meeting anyone but maybe a few bandits was unlikely as he was by no means an important figure, just rich, but he was very paranoid and always liked to be as prepared as possible.

After quickly explaining the mission, the team started off. The village wasn't too far off and would at most; take a day to walk there. With any luck they would make it back to Konoha before the sun rose the next day, as they could move significantly quicker without a civilian with them.

For most of the trip, Kiba joked with Shino, who ignored Kiba as well as he could. Eventually Kiba made the mistake of making a particularly bad joke about Shino's bugs, and Shino put a wall of bugs between him and Kiba so that they couldn't talk anymore. Kiba spent the rest of the trip attempting to flirt with Hinata, who just blushed and mumbled some incoherent responses.

Kiba tried his best to act as normally as possible. His head was still aching and he had random sudden urges to vomit, although he held them back. Throughout the entire trip Akamaru stayed away from Kiba. Although Kiba understood why Akamaru was avoiding him, it still hurt. Kiba wasn't trying to be cold towards Akamaru; he just didn't know what to feel right now. Normally whenever Kiba had something he was confused or conflicted about he would talk to Akamaru. But now that what was confusing him was _about_ Akamaru, he didn't know what to do. He tried to talk to Hana, but she always seemed busy. His Mom was the same, although he wasn't quite sure how good advice she would give on something like this. Kiba just hoped that Akamaru wouldn't get mad at him for being so negligent, most likely Kiba figured he would be back to normal soon enough.

Akamaru walked upfront of everyone with Kurenai and the client. He just walked along, sulking, looking to be deep in thought. The man was a little afraid of Akamaru at first because of his enormity, but soon realized that Akamaru was a rather kind dog, if not a little depressed at the moment. The architect actually found it rather interesting that a dog could show such complex emotions, as the only dogs he had seen before had been merely pets.

Kurenai noticed Akamaru's strange behavior as well. Kiba seemed to be acting normal, although she knew that if something was wrong, Kiba would probably try to act as normally as possible as not to draw attention to the situation. It was obvious though, by Akamaru's actions that something was wrong between the two normally best friends. On all previous missions, Akamaru rarely went farther then a few meters from his master, always by his side. In fact, most of the time Akamaru had always either been riding in Kiba's coat when he was smaller, or now the opposite, carrying Kiba as Akamaru was now bigger then any of them. But on this mission, they never came within a few meters of each other, and they had made almost no interaction the entire time. Whatever the problem, Kurenai hoped it would resolve itself soon, conflict within a team was never a good thing.

As planned they reached the village just before sunset. It had been a completely eventless mission; they hadn't even been attacked by a single bandit. They brought the architect to his house, where they left him after he signed a few papers, to prove that the mission had been completed and paid them the rest of the money he owed. Team 8 now headed into the village, planning on getting something to eat before spending most of the night on the return trip to Konoha.

"Gah, that was so boring," Kiba complained to no one in particular, "we didn't run into a single enemy!"

"It is always best to avoid unnecessary combat," Shino muttered, he always hated it that Kiba was so eager to get into combat. He knew one day his eagerness to fight would probably get him killed. "Even a-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know about your stupid bugs," Kiba interrupted, not wanting to hear another speech about how bugs do this and we should learn from them and blah, blah, blah. "Let's just get something to eat, I'm starving!"

"S-so where should we eat?" Hinata said nervously. She never was comfortable being in unfamiliar towns. Even in Konoha she was a little on edge at all times.

The team continued to walk through the town, looking for anything that looked decent. It was a fairly rich town compared to some of the other villages in the fire country so there were a decent amount of good restaurants, but none that fit all their tastes or was cheap enough for them to afford.

Finally they came to a small restaurant on the edge of the town that was cheap and had a decent selection. The team walked inside and was about to sit before a man walked up and stopped them.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," The man said frantically, waving his arms in the air. "You can't bring that thing in here" He pointed to Akamaru, an annoyed look on his face.

"Oh, sorry," Kurenai replied, looking from Akamaru to Kiba, hoping that Kiba didn't get angry like he usually did when someone told Akamaru to leave or called him some name like 'thing'. "We'll go somewhere else."

Kurenai turned and started to leave but Kiba stopped her.

"No, Akamaru can wait outside," Kiba said rather coldly, signaling for Akamaru leave.

Kurenai and the rest of the team looked at Kiba rather shocked. He never did something like this; he usually refused to go anywhere that Akamaru wasn't allowed to go as well. Akamaru hung his head and walked out of the restaurant while the rest of the team sat down, still stunned by Kiba's decision.

Everyone looked at Kiba, who was staring at the table, a frown on his face. When he looked up he noticed everyone gazes fixed on him and immediately put a smile on.

"Ok let's eat!" Kiba said cheerily, acting as normal as he could.

xx

The team walked slowly threw the town, letting the food digest in their stomach before they spent the rest of the night traveling. Akamaru was back with them now, walking a short distance behind Kiba, still looking depressed. It was about eleven now and the sun was completely set. Because of the break they had taken, most likely they would still be traveling as the sun rose and arrive in Konoha mid morning.

Kurenai constantly checked up on Kiba and Akamaru, keeping a close on eye on both of them. She didn't want to confront Kiba now about Akamaru's strange behavior; it would be difficult to track Akamaru down if he ran away here.

"I think that's enough time here," Kurenai said, still with her eye on Kiba. "We should leave now."

Shino, Hinata and Kiba nodded their approval and they all vanished, now on their way back to Konoha.

xx

It was dawn now; the sun was peaking out from the mountains in the east. Team 8 was nearing Konoha now, they should arrive in no more then an hour and a half now. Kiba lead the pack, staying 50 meters ahead of everyone. He was eager to get back to Konoha. The rest of the team traveled in a group behind him, Akamaru along with them.

Kiba groaned, he was tired from traveling all night and he was hungry. He didn't want to stop though; he could just rest and eat when he got back to Konoha. He had been thinking the entire trip, about Akamaru and what he had done. He was starting to feel really sorry for being so cruel to Akamaru.

"Kiba, wait up!" Kurenai called out, motioning for Kiba to stop. "Shino and Hinata are hungry; we are going to stop to eat here."

Kiba landed on the nearest branch and waited for his teammates to catch up. He saw Akamaru running along with them and immediately felt a pang of guilt. Akamaru was running with his head down, looking immensely depressed. Kiba felt horrible for making Akamaru suffer like this for the past week. He didn't care what Akamaru did to that kid anymore, he just didn't want to see him like this.

The team caught up quickly and they all jumped to the ground, opening their packs to take out food. Kiba watched Akamaru jump down and walk over to Hinata, avoiding all eye contact with his master.

"Akamaru!" Kiba yelled over to his dog. Akamaru perked up his head, his tail wagging slightly, excited that maybe his owner wouldn't be so cold anymore. "Let's go on ahead; I'm not too hungry, we can just get something when we get back."

Akamaru excitedly yipped his agreement and quickly jumped up to Kiba, who was still in the trees. Kiba smiled, watching his dog excitedly land on the branch next to him, wagging his tail rapidly. "Ok, let's go!"

They both took off, racing towards Konoha, leaving the rest of their team behind. Kurenai smiled, knowing that things were now better between the two. She knew this would resolve itself; Kiba had been mad at Akamaru a few times before but could never stay mad at his best friend for long.

Kiba jumped from tree to tree for a while, Akamaru right beside him, looking hopefully towards his owner. Kiba kept his gaze straight ahead, stealing glances from time to time at Akamaru, but quickly looking away, too ashamed to look at his dog.

After a little longer jumping from tree to tree Kiba finally got the courage to talk.

"Akamaru…" Kiba said quietly. "I'm really sorry."

Akamaru cocked his head, looking at his master. He let out a small whine.

"You don't need to apologize Akamaru," Kiba replied to Akamaru's whine. "You didn't really do anything wrong you just did what you thought was right. It was my fault we got into that situation; you just did what you had to."

Akamaru whined again, he was sorry as well for what he did, but he didn't want Kiba to feel so bad for how he acted after.

"You're too forgiving Akamaru," Kiba said, "I was an asshole for the past week; you don't deserve to be treated that way."

Akamaru let out an excited yip; he didn't care how Kiba had treated him as long as they could be friends again now.

Kiba laughed at this. He felt better knowing that Akamaru forgave him, he just couldn't believe that Akamaru wasn't at least a little frustrated with him. He didn't deserve someone as awesome as Akamaru when he acted the way he did.

Kiba stopped suddenly on a branch, Akamaru landing right next to him. Kiba smiled wide, his fangs showing.

"Akamaru you're the best," Kiba said excitedly, reaching out to give Akamaru a pat on the head, not hearing the hissing sound next to him.

xx

Kurenai, Shino and Hinata sat quietly on the ground, eating their meal. They ate quickly, even though they were in fire country it was never good to stay in one place for too long when they were still a fair distance away from Konoha.

"Alright let's get going," Kurenai said, putting her pack on while bringing herself to her feet. "Kiba shouldn't be too far ahead right now, with any luck we'll be-"

BOOM! The earth shook from the explosion. Everyone was on their feet immediately, starring off towards where the explosion came from.

"What the hell was that?" Kurenai asked, praying it wasn't caused by who she thought it was caused by.

"Hinata, check it out," Shino, who still remained calmed, ordered.

Veins formed on the side of Hinata's face leading up to her eyes. She looked off into the distance, towards where the sound had come from looking for any clue as to what had caused it. She gasped when she saw what it was.

"F-four strange men are a little more then a kilometer that way," Hinata said, pointing towards where the explosion had originated. "I think Kiba and Akamaru are there as well. Some of the trees are destroyed; it looks like there were some exploding tags that went off."

Without saying another word, the three darted off towards the source of the explosion.

xx

_What the hell happened?_ Kiba's ears were ringing and his vision was out of focus and blurred. He was disoriented. One second he had been bounding from branch to branch through the forest and the next he was on the ground, wood splinters and shrapnel falling down around him. Kiba tried to reorient himself, bringing himself onto his knees, wiping dirt from his eyes and face so he could see.

Kiba could hear voices off in the distance but couldn't make out who they were, his hearing not completely back yet. Kiba heard a whimpering a short distance away. _Akamaru!_ Instantly springing to his feet, Kiba's eyes manically searched the premise for any sign of his giant white dog that moments ago had been happily traveling at Kiba's side.

The whimpering continued as Kiba continued to frantically look for his dog. Taking a few steps towards the sound of the whimpering Kiba cringed as a sharp pain ran up his leg. Looking down, Kiba discovered his leg had been mangled with several wooden splinters protruding from it. Biting his lip, Kiba reached down pulling some of the larger chunks of wood from his leg. _Shit, I think it's broken._ Now that most of the splinters had been removed Kiba reached into his back pouch and pulled out some bandage to wrap his leg with…

xx

Shino, Hinata and Kurenai rushed towards the source of the explosion, praying the Kiba and Akamaru were okay. Even from the distance they were at now they could see some smoke from the explosion rising up.

As they drew nearer to the scene Kurenai started to think. Why where there unfamiliar people setting traps this close to Konoha? Was it the Rock? There was some tension between the two Shinobi nations but if a war did break out it shouldn't happen this soon.

So the 3 ran towards the scene, bounding from branch to branch, praying that nothing bad would happen.

xx

"Akamaru! Are you okay?" Kiba worriedly asked, petting his dog and checking for any serious injuries. Akamaru whined again. He had several large gashes across his body and most likely had several broken bones and torn muscles in his legs. "Don't worry buddy, I'm going to get you out of here, it's going to be okay, I'll protect you." Kiba was worried now; he was in no shape to carry Akamaru back on his own with his injuries. Frantically he searched around the area trying to find any sign of his team who had been just a short distance behind him before but he couldn't see or smell them at all.

Akamaru whined again slightly trying to communicate something to Kiba but started to gag slightly, coughing trying to clear his throat. "What did you say Akamaru? People? People what? Do you smell the others?" Kiba asked Akamaru who had just said something about people but hadn't been able to finish because of his coughing fit.

Suddenly Kiba detected a presence behind him but too late and turned around to discover a swarm of kunai and shuriken hurtling straight towards him…

xx

Hinata gasped when she came upon the scene. Kiba was crouched over Akamaru who was injured badly, speaking frantically to the dog. Kiba looked injured as well, his leg all bloodied up and his clothes were torn. Hinata hesitated, she had only seen Kiba in this state a couple of times before and it always hurt her deep inside to see her teammate suffer like this.

Kurenai didn't hesitate, though. She immediately drew some Kunai and hurled them to deflect the swarm of weapons that was heading towards Kiba. The masses of metal collided in mid air, dropping harmlessly to the ground. Kurenai quickly jumped down to Kiba and Akamaru's side with Shino right behind her. Hinata stayed in the tree, still shocked by the scene.

"Kiba are you alright?" Kurenai asked, remaining as calm as possible.

"A-Akamaru i-is…" Kiba trailed off. He was still disoriented and seemed to be going into some sort of shock.

"Kiba!" Kurenai yelled, trying to get her student to snap out of it. "Get a hold of yourself! Akamaru will be fine, you just have to tell us how many enemies there are and what the situation is."

"T-three, maybe four," Kiba stammered. "I took down two of them but there are still more somewhere."

Kurenai quickly scanned the area for any more enemies. She saw the two Kiba had taken out still lying on the ground not to far off. She noticed movement in the direction where the Kunai had come from. Hinata had jumped down from the tree now and was scanning the area with her byakagan.

"There is an enemy about 30 meters to the north of us," Hinata started, pointing to where Kurenai had seen the movement before. "And another one about 50 meters behind us."

Kurenai quickly scanned behind them to where Hinata had noted by couldn't pick out the man from behind all the trees. She glanced down to where Kiba was trying to bandage Akamaru, now almost completely oblivious to what was happening.

"Hinata, help bandage Kiba and Akamaru," Kurenai demanded. "Shino, take out the enemy to the north. I'm going to go after the one behind us."

Shino nodded his approval and he took off towards his opponent. Kurenai turned to the south, behind them and took off in search of the enemy. If Kiba was able to take out two of them while being in the state he was in, these enemies couldn't be too tough.

Hinata quickly ran over to Kiba and Akamaru and removed some bandages and ointment from her pack. She quickly spread some of the ointment on some of Akamaru's worse cuts and burns and on Kiba's as well, although Kiba didn't seem to notice, all his attention was on Akamaru.

"Hang in there, Akamaru," Kiba demanded.

Hinata, now that she was at the scene, got a chance to better examine the damage. Now that she could see what had actually happened it didn't look as bad as before. While Akamaru was badly injured, most of the injuries were just small cuts and possibly a broken bone or two; nothing life threatening. The same was true for Kiba; he had many cuts and burns and his leg looked like it was pretty badly broken, but it looked like he should be fine. Hinata breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily there were fairly close to Konoha, and once Kurenai and Shino finished dealing with the enemies they could get Kiba to the hospital.

Shino looked down at his enemy, who was now writhing on the ground, covered in bugs. This guy had been weak, he was no more then a Genin. Shino ordered his bugs to suck all the mans chakra out quickly so they could return to their team.

Kurenai found the enemy easily. When the man had detected that he had been spotted he quickly jumped from his hiding spot behind a tree and haphazardly chucked a few kunai in Kurenai's direction. Being a Jounin, Kurenai quickly dodged them and drew hew own Kunai. Before the man knew what had happened the Kunai was in his chest. He coughed blood and fell to the ground, convulsing. Kurenai quickly approached the man to finish him off, but before she reached him he exploded in a cloud of smoke. Kurenai cursed herself for being so dumb, it was just a bunshin!

The man grinned to himself, knowing he had been able to distract his pursuer. Reaching into a special pouch on his leg, the man drew several small needles, taking careful aim with them before releasing them towards his target.

Hinata was busy bandaging Akamaru and barely didn't notice the enemy until it was almost too late. As fast as she could Hinata activated her Byakagan and noticed the swarm of small needles flying towards were they all sat. Letting her reflexes take over, Hinata grabbed a Kunai and her shoulder pouch and deflected the swarm of needles. She breathed a sigh of relief…that was a close one.

Akamaru yelped. Hinata looked down and noticed a needle that was smaller then all the other ones sticking out of Akamaru's side. Kiba quickly removed the needle from Akamaru's side and threw it away. Kiba grabbed another bandage with the intention of covering the small hole but stopped suddenly when a noise hit his ears.

The hole was making a faint sizzling sound and a black liquid that wasn't blood was oozing out of it. Akamaru yelped again and quickly tried to lick to wound but yelped yet again when his tongue touched the foul liquid.

Based on the trajectory of the needles it wasn't hard to determine where the enemy was. Kurenai quickly formed several hand seals, not risking letting the enemy get away again.

The man grinned to himself, content with the fact his trick had worked, although he would have preferred to hit one of the humans instead of the damn dog. He was about relocate again for another attack when he noticed a branch grabbing at his foot. He tried to pry free but to no avail, his entire body was now secured in a web of branches. He cursed himself for being caught in the jutsu.

Kiba tried to frantically wipe the liquid away but no matter how much he removed more kept on pouring out. He started to panic. Akamaru had been poisoned!

"What the hell is that crap!" Kiba yelled, turning to the enemy who was now trapped in Kurenai's technique.

The man laughed. "Is it obvious? It's poison."

"Well no shit!" Kiba yelled. "What the hell kind?"

"Now why would I tell you that?" the man said, laughing still. He stopped laughing though when the branches containing him suddenly tightened, making him gasp for breath.

"Tell us how to reverse it," Kurenai demanded, slowly making her technique strangle the man.

"Again, why would I do that?" The man said, still gagging.

"Because if you don't, I'll make the last moments of your life more painful then you could possible imagine," Kurenai spat at him, her red eyes starring daggers through the man.

"Heh, Trust me. Nothing you can do to me would be half as painful as what that dog is about to experience," The man now was bound so tight he couldn't breath and his face was turning blue. "Plus, there is no antidote. As soon as that poison gets into your veins it irreversible."

Akamaru was crying now, shaking violently.

"Akamaru, hang on!" Kiba cried, tears streaming down his face. "I won't let you die." He now turned to the attacker. "What the fuck is this stuff!"

"Are you dumb…?" The man said, barely able to stay conscious now. "I said its poison…"

"I know that!" Kiba barked back. "What the hell kind of poison!"

The man couldn't respond now. His face was completely blue and he couldn't get any air. Kurenai released the grip a slight bit to allow him to get a little air. The man coughed violently, sucking in all the air he could.

"It's quite genius actually," The man said in-between coughs. "Once it gets into the veins it slowly turns your entire body to mush, burning each cell until you die. It's the most painful way you can die. What you're mutt if feeling right now isn't even going to compare what he will feel in 30 minutes when the poison is full blown. I kind of feel bad for that mutt. There is no pain in the world that can even come close to comparing what he is feeling right now."

Kiba looked back at Akamaru, horrified. Akamaru was now writhing in pain, blood dripping out of parts of his skin that had already been disintegrated. Tears were now freely flowing down Kiba's cheeks, over his red triangle tribal tattoos and falling off his chin, mixing in with the blood and goo that was now covering Akamaru's body. Just looking at Akamaru made him hurt unbearably inside, he couldn't imagine the pain that Akamaru was going through right now.

Kurenai rushed over to the man grabbing his pouch of his leg, searching for any antidote. Sadly the pouch was completely empty now; there wasn't even another needle in it that they could use on the enemy. Kurenai looked down to the scene below; she could feel her eyes starting to burn.

Hinata had taken a few steps away from the scene unable to handle what she was seeing. She was sobbing now. Shino, who had just returned from defeating his enemy held her close to him to prevent her from falling over. He had ordered some of his bugs to try and remove the poison but as soon as they touched it they were killed. There was nothing any of them could do.

"Akamaru…" Kiba cried. "Akamaru, please don't die. I need you. I love you. I can't live without you." Kiba was now clutching Akamaru close to him. He didn't care if the poison got in him, although it didn't seem to have any effect as the black substance rolled over his skin.

Akamaru was shaking violently, crying out in pain and whimpering. The pain was unbearable for him and was just getting worse by the minute. He tried to bark to Kiba, but couldn't, the pain was just too severe.

"Akamaru…"

Akamaru whimpered again, blood pouring out his mouth, his insides slowly being torn apart.

"Akamaru… I can't let you die like this…"

Akamaru whimpered more.

"I can't let you stay in this much pain."

Akamaru yelped, the pain getting worse and worse. He slowly nodded his head though, looking at Kiba.

"I'm so sorry Akamaru." Kiba cried, as he pulled a kunai from his pouch and dug it into Akamaru's heart.

Akamaru made a last small whimper before his eyes rolled back in his head and died.

Kiba couldn't contain himself anymore and was openly weeping on Akamaru's now limp body. He slowly removed the Kunai, blood gushing out of the gaping hole. Unable to take the anguish anymore, Kiba passed out in a puddle of Akamaru's blood and flesh.

* * *

Review! I didn't think that the gore and violence was too bad but sorry if it was a little disturbing to anyone. It doesn't need to be re rated, does it?

I'd really appreciate if I could get some reviews of what you're thinking when you're reading this. Do you like the story? Do the characters seem right? Is my writing good or is it too confusing? Any and all constructive criticism is welcome!


	12. Ends and New Beginnings

Next chapter! Review! Not quite sure how much I like this chapter, so tell me what you think.

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Chapter 11: Ends and New Beginnings 

"Do you remember?"

Kiba remained kneeling on the branch he was on, starring blankly at Shino, his eyes watering. He didn't remember it all but he remembered bits and pieces--he remembered enough. He started to tremble slightly now, gripping his knees tight, digging his claws deep into them.

Shino looked worriedly at his teammate, who sat wounded and defeated on the branch next to him. He hoped this wouldn't reverse all the progress Kiba had made since Akamaru's death.

"Kiba, kill this man, or I will," Shino ordered. He had made up his mind; they had to kill this man, even if it meant war.

Kiba didn't respond. He remained in his position, now starring blankly down at the branch. He was in a mild state of shock. Even the fragments of memory he regained were enough to cause his some trauma. Out of his peripheral vision Kiba looked down at the one responsible for Akamaru's death, who had fallen to their knees, still covered with many of Shino's destruction bugs. Right now he wanted more then anything to kill that man, but his body wouldn't let him move. He remained crouching on the branch, trembling even harder now.

"Can you do it?" Shino asked, continuing to watch Kiba. The man on the ground was trying to stand up, probably hoping to escape while they were distracted, but the man no longer had any chakra left and could not move. If Shino did not recall his bugs, the man would be dead within 5 minutes.

Kiba still did not respond. He just remained how he was, trying to control the trembling in his body. Remembering what Akamaru had been like right before he died, the pain that he had been going through was too much for Kiba to take right now. Kiba clenched his hands into fists, digging his nails into his palms adding to the pain he already had in his right arm from the shuriken that had hit it. He had to control himself. He couldn't let himself regress here and break down. Kiba tried to stand up, but couldn't; his body not letting him move.

The bugs in Shino's body started to buzz anxiously. They had just detected more people not too far in the distance. Shino had feared this may happen. The rock would not want to just let someone that was so important to them run away right after they had paid such a heavy price to get him back. Shino looked back to Kiba, who was now attempting to stand up, but couldn't, his body shaking too much. Assuming that the people that he sensed now were in fact enemies, they had to finish up here before they were found. Dealing with more people would be difficult in the current situation.

Kiba also sensed the approaching people. He could smell them on the wind. The smells were unfamiliar though, most likely meaning they were not friendly. Kiba again tried to force himself up but again couldn't manage the strength. He knew they had to get out of here quick or else they could be captured or killed.

"Seems to be taking it pretty hard, huh?" The man said weakly, not having much strength left. "If it makes you feel any better, you did the right thing."

The voice of the one responsible for Akamaru's death brought Kiba back to reality. He looked down at the man, who had given up on trying to get away and was just kneeling on the ground, accepting his fate. Kiba immediately was filled with rage, starring at the one who had make Akamaru feel such pain. With new found strength coming from the anger, Kiba wobbly got to his feet, never taking his eyes off the man. Kiba reached for his side holster to draw a Kunai with his right arm but cringed when the movement caused pain to shoot through his shoulder.

The man just laughed weakly still. Watching Kiba stand up and cringe when the wounds in his arm acted up. Using some of his little remaining energy the man reached into his side pouch, letting his hand rest there.

Kiba cursed himself again for taking those hits before. He shouldn't have gotten hit by attacks like those. So now, giving up on using his right arm, Kiba clutched a Kunai in his left hand, dripping it tightly, getting ready to finish the job. The smells of the unknown men were getting closer, he had to hurry.

The man watched as the dog boy jumped from the tree he was in, landing lightly on the ground at the edge of the clearing. He laughed again as Kiba had to clutch his arm again as the impact of landing sent a jolt of pain through it. Some of the bugs covering the man's body started to retreat, returning to the other boy with the large jacket who remained in the tree still.

Kiba started to slowly move towards the man, preparing his Kunai. The man remained on his knees, leaning forwards slightly, a laugh escaping from him in intervals. Kiba growled lowly, this man could laugh all he wanted, but it wouldn't change the fact that he was going to die here, on his knees.

"You have anything you want to say before you die?" Kiba asked coldly, now standing over the man, Kunai just inches from the man's neck.

The man just laughed again.

"Kiba, hurry up or we're going to run into trouble," Shino ordered from his position in the tree.

Kiba turned to Shino to retort his order. The man, seeing his opportunity, clutched the needle he had been holding in his pouch and removed it thrusting it forward at Kiba's stomach.

The man's movements were slow; he had almost no chakra left. Kiba recognized the needle in the man's hand; it was the same type that Akamaru had been hit with. Kiba reacted as fast as he could; getting even scraped by that could mean the end.

Even though the man's movements were slow, he had caught Kiba off guard and by the time Kiba had grabbed the man's hand to stop the needle from getting him in the chest the needle was through his stomach armor.

"Look's like you get to experience what you're damn mutt got to feel now too, huh?" The man said, laughing now, trying to push the needle in further but unable to because of Kiba's firm grip on his hand.

Kiba gritted his teeth, digging his nails into the man's hand to prevent him from pushing the needle in any deeper. The poison on the needle smelled awful and by reflex Kiba had almost pulled his hand away to cover his nose. Tears of pain started to cloud Kiba's vision as he tried to push the man's hand back with his right arm.

"Starting to feel it now, right?" The man asked. His hand was being forced back slowly now, but he grinned, knowing that in a few more seconds, the pain would start to become too intense for the dog boy to resist at all. He could feel more bugs starting to swarm on him now; rapidly draining what little remained of his chakra. The bug guy had also jumped from his spot in the tree and was running towards the scene. "There's no point in struggling now, mutt, if even a drop of that poison gets in your body, you're going to die. So how does it feel?"

Kiba continued to push the man's arm further back, fighting the pain. "Why don't you tell me," Kiba growled. In one quick movement Kiba removed the needle from his armor and dug it into the man's shoulder.

"Fuck!" The man swore, quickly removing the needle before falling to his hands. "You shouldn't have had enough control of you're body after having the poison run through you for that long."

Kiba fell to his knees, dropping the Kunai from his left hand before clutching his right shoulder with his now free hand. He was breathing deeply, biting his lip hard to try and distract himself from the other pain.

The man was also clutching his shoulder, the poison had already started to spread and the same black goo that had been dripping from Akamaru's wound was now flowing from his.

"Kiba!" Shino yelled, catching Kiba in his arms as his wounded teammate fell backwards.

"Thanks Shino," Kiba said: a weak smile on his face.

"Why are you thanking me?" Shino questioned, "I caused you to get hit."

"I'm not hit," Kiba replied. "Those freaking bugs of yours sucked all his chakra and because of that I was able to catch his attack before it fully penetrated my armor."

"So you didn't get hit by the poison?" Shino breathed a sigh of relief.

"B-but, you were in pain, you were hit by the poison," the man managed to gasp out, the poison now spreading through his body, making his whole body burn.

"Maybe you should have poisoned those shuriken you hit me with earlier," Kiba mocked, "Because the wounds I got from those hurt like a bitch."

The man was laying on his stomach now, his body convulsing because of the pain. His face was contorted, his jaw and his eyes clenched shut.

"So how does it feel?" Kiba asked coldly, getting back onto his knees.

The man didn't respond, he continued to convulse on the ground. The black goo coming from his shoulder was pooling around him. He screamed threw clenched teeth, the pain getting worse and worse.

Kiba got to his feet now, starring down at the one responsible for Akamaru's death as he lay twisted in pain on the ground. Kiba crouched down again, gripping the collar of the man pulling him up to his knees with his left arm.

The man coughed violently, spraying blood onto Kiba's arm and chest. The forced movement caused the pain to intensify even more.

"I asked, how does it feel?" Kiba growled. His narrow eyes filled with rage.

The man continued to cough, completely coating Kiba's arm in thick red and black blood and goo.

"Congratulations," The man managed to cough out, "you just started a war."

Kiba didn't respond, he just held the man were he was, starring at him. He should be satisfied now; he had caught the one that had made Akamaru suffer through all that pain. He had even managed to make the enemy feel that same pain that Akamaru had felt. But he wasn't content with how this had turned out. He knew that revenge wouldn't do much for him. It wouldn't bring Akamaru back. It wouldn't fix all the mistakes he had made. But even with that knowledge he still thought he would feel at least a little better.

But now, holding the one that was responsible for Akamaru's death, watching him die, all he felt was rotten. He was just as bad as this man. He was forcing him to feel the same pain that he had made Akamaru feel. Kiba was the 'evil' one in all of this. Not just right now, while he watched a man feel what he had called 'the worst death you could imagine,' but in everything he had done in the past month. He had killed this mans friends, he had killed another almost innocent man and worse he was responsible for the death of that mans innocent child. Through doing all of this he had in essence, started a war. Soon he would be responsible for the deaths of more of his teammates and friends. He could even be responsible for the destruction of Konoha if the war came to that.

Kiba was bought back to reality by the man having another severe coughing fit and shaking violently. The unknown people were dangerously close now, he could smell them clearly, they would be here within minutes. Shino sensed the approaching people as well and was now tapping on Kiba's shoulder, signaling to him that they had to leave.

"So are you going to leave me here like this?" The man said in between coughing fits. "To think you did all this for some stupid mutt."

"He's not some stupid mutt," Kiba growled. "His name was Akamaru, and he was my best friend."

The man laughed at this. Well it wasn't exactly a laugh, but it was as close to a laugh as he could get with the severe pain he was feeling now.

"And I won't kill you," Kiba continued, calmer now. He dropped the man back to the ground. The impact of even this short fall made the man scream out in pain. He was starting bleed from the pores in his body and the black goo and blood was now covering the entire area around them. "I'll let you do that."

Kiba picked up the Kunai he had dropped before and placed it firmly in the man's hand.

Kiba stood up now, still clutching his right shoulder, still starring down at the man. Shino taped him on his good shoulder, urgent now, as the unknown men were down dangerously close. Kiba nodded and turned to walk away, hearing the man laugh once more with his remaining strength before propping himself up just enough to get the Kunai aligned with his heart. And with all his remaining energy abandoning him to the pain, he dropped himself down, impaling himself on the weapon. And with the knowledge that the one that was in many ways responsible for everything that had happened to Kiba in the last month was dead, Kiba and Shino disappeared into the night as the unknown men finally arrived at the clearing, rushing to their fallen teammates side.

xx

Kiba groaned, cursing himself for being so clumsy as to get injuries to get him back into this god forsaken place. He was sitting on the side of a hospital bed, legs hanging over the side, his team and family all sitting in the room around him. Throughout his years as a ninja, and particularly in the last month, Kiba had become far more familiar with the hospital that he had ever wanted to. It was something about the smell of it that he just didn't like.

Luckily, for this particular visit he wouldn't have to remain imprisoned here long. While his injuries were severe, they were nothing that would require him to stay overnight or for any extended period of time. Kiba winced as Sakura, his medic for the day, finished applying the bandages to his shoulder and put a little to much pressure on the wound.

"Do you have to be so rough?" Kiba barked, pulling his shoulder away from the super strong girl.

"Well if you could keep yourself uninjured for more then a day I wouldn't have to bandage you up in the first place," Sakura retorted. She took a step back, examining her work on the dog boy. Kiba's entire right arm was bandaged, with a large concentration of it on his shoulder. Because of the burns Kiba had obtained on his back, his entire chest was now wrapped as well.

Deciding it wasn't the best idea to push the argument forward any more, for fear of getting even worse injuries for the highly temperamental medic, Kiba turned his attention to the other occupants of the room. His sister was sitting with her dogs in a chair next to the bed. His mom, who he hadn't seen for most of this entire ordeal, was standing next to her, Kuromaru, her dog, standing next to her. All of Kiba's teammates, Hinata, Shino and Kurenai were standing at the foot of the bed. And to Kiba's dismay, the psychologist was standing near the door, preparing for any breakdown that Kiba may have.

Kiba hesitated before he talked. He knew that as soon as he said something, everyone in the room would most likely start saying how sorry they were that all this had to happen, and how they hoped he could take the realization of what really happened on the mission. He hated when people showed this kind of pity towards him, it made him feel even worse about everything and it made him feel like it was his fault even more.

In the long silence that currently ensued, Kiba started to think about that mission. In a way, Kiba was glad that he remembered what had happened. He wasn't glad that Akamaru had to die in such a painful way, but he was glad that in the end, Akamaru had died his friend, knowing that his master loved him. Up until now, for the past month, the last memories he had had of Akamaru were the ones where he had been so cruel to his dog, neglecting him and treating him coldly because of the confusion he had been feeling at the time. He was glad now that he had been able to resolve all of that conflict before Akamaru had died, so that at least Akamaru hadn't died thinking that his master hated him.

"So…" Kiba said, breaking the long silence, "Think we can get back to training?"

"Assuming you actually let these wounds heal, you should be able to get back to training in no time," Kurenai responded, while Shino and Hinata nodded in agreement.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to get injured so easily again, if only to stay out of this foul smelling place," Kiba replied.

His mother only laughed at this.

"What's so funny?" Kiba demanded.

"I can't count the number of times you've said that," Tsume laughed, "And yet you always end up back here within a month."

Kiba blushed as everyone in the room laughed, knowing how true that statement was.

Hinata blushed and giggled along with everyone else. She was glad that Kiba seemed to be getting back to his normal self, seeing him be so depressed for the last month had been truly hard for her.

Kiba noticed Hinata's blush and managed a weak smile for her. She was still bandaged up some from her ordeal and Kiba hoped she would be okay as well in the long run. Deep down Kiba blamed himself for Hinata's condition, just like he still blamed himself for Akamaru's death. He may have been too weak and foolish to save Akamaru, but he would never make those same mistakes again, he would never lose someone so important to him ever again.

After the laughter stopped another long silence ensued. Sakura motioned to everyone to leave so she could finish doing some tests on Kiba to make sure he had no infections. Kiba's sister and mom left, taking there dogs with them, telling Kiba they would see him at home. The psychologist left along with them, seeing that Kiba showed no signs of serious mental distress. Kurenai and Hinata left after, leaving only Shino in the room with Kiba and Sakura.

"Shino you can leave now," Sakura said, motioning for Shino to leave as well.

"Sorry, but before I forget I have something to give to Kiba," Shino responded, reaching into his jacket and pulling out Kiba's forehead protector. "You dropped it before."

"Thanks," Kiba said, smiling weakly as he accepted Shino's gift. Kiba looked over the piece of metal and cloth in his hand, he couldn't remember the last time he had worn this.

Nodding his goodbye, Shino left the room, leaving just Kiba and Sakura in the room.

Kiba placed his forehead protector on the bed next to him, before looking back to Sakura.

"So we can we get this over with so I can get out of the hell hole," Kiba asked.

Sakura laughed at this. "I swear, you've been getting injured even more then Naruto recently!"

"Yeah, well I haven't been having a good month."

xx

Kiba wiped his nose, sniffling a little. It was an overcast day and it was humid—rain seemed imminent. Readjusting his forehead protector on his head, Kiba continued on to his destination. He arrived not to long after.

The granite slab stood protruded from the ground. Kiba looked up and down it, looking at all the names engraved on it. He hadn't been here since the funeral and it looked different then he remembered. The patch of ground that had been overturned before now blended in with the rest of the ground, grass growing from it freely.

Kiba choked back some tears as he scanned the long list of names, finally arriving on Akamaru's at the end. Kiba lowered his head, saying a silent prayer for his lost companion. He couldn't believe it had been a month since it had happened.

Kiba stayed starring at the stone for a long time. It started to rain lightly, drops of water rolling down Kiba's forehead protector and over his face.

A loud boom sounded in the distance, Kiba ignored it figuring it was just thunder. Several more explosions sounded not to long after.

A weak whimper sounded from behind Kiba, catching him off guard. Kiba whipped his eyes quickly, removing the mix of tears and rain as he turned around to find the source. The whimper had sounded just like the one Akamaru had made all the time when he was a puppy when a thunder storm occurred or there were lots of loud explosions.

"His name is Shiromaru," Kiba's mom stated, motioning to the small puppy that was lying on the ground, whimpering lightly.

The dog was tiny, about as big a rabbit, and it had brilliant white fur with patches of brown on its ears and a small patch of brown fur on its back. Except for the small brown patch on its back it looked just like Akamaru.

Kiba crouched down, to get a better look at the small dog. He watched it stand up and crawl back a little when Kiba go nearer, whimpering still.

Explosions still sounded off in the distance. Kiba could hear people yelling off in the village, people running towards the explosions. It wasn't thunder, whatever it was, Kiba didn't care right now.

"He's your new nin dog," Tsume continued, "You will raise him and train him just like you did with Akamaru. He's only 3 months old right now; his birthday is the day after yours."

Kiba nodded, not saying a word yet. He held his hand out to his new companion, trying to let the small puppy get used to his scent. The puppy hesitated, backing up a couple more inches before hesitantly sniffing Kiba's palm. Shiromaru could sense Kiba's mild resent of him and thus was a bit scared of his new master. Kiba didn't want to replace Akamaru, he knew he had to move on but his mom giving him this new dog here made Akamaru's death feel that much more final and real.

Kiba took a deep breath to calm his emotions so the small puppy wouldn't be as frightened. Shiromaru sensed Kiba's lightening mood and sniffed his palm again, this time licking it and rolling his small head on it trying to get Kiba to pet him. Kiba complied with the dog's request, scratching him on the top of his head and behind his ears. Kiba felt himself form a weak smile as he heard the dog whimper again, enjoying the feeling of his new masters touch.

Kiba laughed as the small puppy startled and fell to the ground when the explosions in the distance intensified and became more frequent. He picked up the small dog, bringing Shiromaru to eye level with himself, looking into the tiny slits.

"I'm Kiba, nice to meet you, Shiromaru," Kiba said, smiling widely. The dog yipped happily and tried to lick Kiba on the nose. The tiny wet tongue tickled and Kiba laughed for the first time in a long while.

The explosions in the distance became even more frequent and intense. Tsume, now worried, left Kiba and his new dog and headed towards the explosions. Kiba didn't notice though, all his attention was on his new best friend. The explosions, getting louder still, caused the small puppy to be scared and start to shake. Kiba brought him close to him, cradling Shiromaru in his arms.

"Don't worry Shiromaru, I'll protect you."

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This may or may not be the last chapter. I possibly may rewrite it because I'm not to happy with how parts of it turned out. I will continue this story (although it will change directions dramatically) if I get lots of reviews telling me to do so, but right now I think I'd prefer to start a new one (with team 8 in it of course!). Most likely I'm going to have at least 1 more epilogue type chapter. So tell me what you think. All reviews are appreciated, especially if you can give me some constructive criticism. 

Oh yeah, and Shiro means white, or at least I think it does. Apparently the Inuzaka name their dogs after colors and I thought Shiromaru sounded okay so I used it. I really don't like naming OC's because I don't know any Japanese names so any name I would give them would seem weird.


	13. Epilogue

Sorry it took so long to write this. I was working on my new fic "The Last Hokage" (Go read it if you liked this!) and I was just plain busy as well. This is going to be the last chapter because I want to work on some other fics, although Kiba and team 8 will play a big role in those as well.

So please read and review!

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**Epilogue**

"Ready to try it again, Shiromaru?"

The small dog whined and fell onto his side on the soft grass, exhausted. The puppy was breathing heavily, tongue hanging lazily out of the side of his mouth.

"That tired already huh?" Kiba muttered and walked over to his new pet and sat down next to him, gently petting the puppy's soft white fur. Shiromaru whimpered softly, enjoying his master's touch. Reinvigorated by his masters supported, Shiromaru slowly stood back up and walked a couple steps away, signaling that he was ready for another go.

"Alright, lets try it again," Kiba yelled as he grabbed a small stick he had been keeping next to him and threw it high in the air and into the distance. Shiromaru ran after it, using all the energy he could muster to catch up to the distant piece of wood. As the wood fell low enough, the small dog leapt as high in the air as his tiny legs could manage and grabbed the stick in his mouth.

"Nice catch, Shiromaru!" Kiba congratulated as he ran over to his new friend as the puppy finally completely collapsed from exhaustion.

The two had been training all day, ever since they had first met. Shiromaru had been anxious to prove himself to his new master and Kiba had come up with his new resolve to be strong enough to not let anything happen to Shiromaru; and having not been training for more then a month, Kiba felt he had to start right away.

Training had been light for the day. Kiba was out of shape so he had to go slow, and Shiromaru was too young to do anything too intense. All Kiba could really help Shiromaru improve was his agility and endurance; and currently they were trying to improve that by playing fetch.

Back when Akamaru was still a puppy Kiba had done the same thing with him. Just this time it felt different. With Akamaru, Kiba had still been in the academy when he was this young. But now with Shiromaru, he was older, he was out of the academy and he was a chuunin. This time it felt like he needed to get himself and Shiromaru much stronger, much quicker.

There wasn't much Kiba could do to help Shiromaru get stronger now, though. The puppy was still too young to learn any techniques, he didn't have enough chakra and his chakra pathways and body wasn't developed enough to handle the stress put on it by performing techniques. Kiba couldn't use soldier pills with Shiromaru either to boost his chakra supply because the large amount of energy the pill gives the user would be enough to rupture some of the chakra pathways in someone as young as Shiromaru. Akamaru hadn't been able to use soldier pills or do any techniques until he was about a year and half, and Shiromaru was only three months old, it would be a long time before he could really start training.

It almost felt like Shiromaru was somewhat of a burden. Kiba instantly hated himself for thinking this. It was his fault Akamaru wasn't with them anymore and that he had to train Shiromaru instead of the little puppy being able to go with someone else in the clan. He promised himself that he wouldn't think this way; everything that had happened had been no ones fault but his own.

But no matter how Kiba framed things, everything felt a lot more urgent. The explosions in the distance stopped with an hour. His mom hadn't returned yet, so Kiba was still uncertain as to what the explosions were exactly, although he had an idea.

Shiromaru had fallen asleep on the grass now, curled up in a ball, breathing lightly. Kiba sat down next to the sleeping dog and gently picked him up, letting the dog curl up in his lap. Besides the small brown mark on Shiromaru's back, he really did look a lot like Akamaru. It felt sort of nostalgic looking down at the small napping puppy. Kiba remembered back to the days when Akamaru was still this small, back when they had both still been in the academy.

He remembered all the times when Iruka had gotten angry at them when Akamaru wasn't house trained that well and he pissed in the classroom. Or the times when they would both ditch class and go for walks in the forest. The more Kiba thought about all the great times he had had with Akamaru when they were younger he started to feel guilty that Shiromaru wouldn't be able to have such a carefree childhood as well.

Needing a break from his thoughts, Kiba decided to head into town and hopefully figure out exactly what had happened. He stood up swiftly, cradling the still sleeping Shiromaru in his arms. Kiba wasn't too thrilled to have to be carrying around the puppy like this all the time; this was why he had had his big gray jacket before. His current outfit wasn't loose enough to let the puppy rest inside his jacket or in his hood, as he didn't have one anymore. He was considering getting another jacket like his old one now, Akamaru had always liked riding in his hood or in his jacket instead of being carried around all the time, it was better for both of them.

Kiba arrived in the town a short while after, still cradling the sleeping Shiromaru in his arms. The town was chaotic. Whatever those explosions had been earlier had thrown everyone into a frenzy. Kiba walked slowly through the bustling streets, keeping Shiromaru hugged close to him.

Kiba scanned the many faces, looking for someone familiar. Scent was useless now, there were too many people in the same place at once and everyone's scents were clashing, he couldn't catch onto any one familiar one.

"Kiba!"

Kiba startled, looking around to try and locate the source of his name being called. He turned to find Shino and Hinata walking towards him, both looking rather dirty and tattered.

"What happened to you guys?" Kiba asked worriedly, noticing the many cuts and bruises they both had obtained.

"It's nothing," Shino responded, although it was obvious he was bluffing, he wasn't one to admit if he got hurt unless if was life threatening.

"How did this happen?" Kiba queried, although he knew it undoubtedly had something to do with the explosions he had heard before.

"The hidden village of the rock attacked," Shino replied rather casually. He knew Kiba already knew this was going to happen, as it was in large part due to what he and Kiba had done that they had been attacked. "It wasn't anything serious; they just set some explosives off on the outside of the village. There were some minor injuries," Shino showed some of the bruises he had and nodded at Hinata, "But there were no deaths."

Kiba nodded: glad that no one had been killed. He knew this was going to happen, he just wished it hadn't happened so soon. He looked to Hinata now, she wasn't too badly injured, just a couple of minor scratches and her clothes were all wrecked.

"Hinata, are you okay?"

Hinata nodded, "Um, Kiba, who is that?" Hinata asked, pointing at the small ball of sleeping fur Kiba was carrying.

"Oh, this is Shiromaru, I'm going to train him and he's going to fight with me from now on," Kiba replied. He had completely forgotten that he was carrying the tiny puppy, having had all his conscious thought overwhelmed with worry for his teammates.

Hinatan and Shino examined their new teammate, who was still sleeping soundly in Kiba's arms, not even being woken by the bustle of the town.

"He looks sort of like-" Hinata started to say but stopped, unsure of how Kiba would react to the mention of his deceased friend.

"Yeah, he does, doesn't he," Kiba replied, smiling weakly.

Hinata and Shino breathed a sigh of relief seeing Kiba's rather positive reaction to the mention of Akamaru. It looked like after all this time, Kiba was finally able to put what had happened behind him at least a little. Hinata found herself smiling as well as she looked at Shirmaru. He looked really cute curled up in Kiba's arms and also seemed to lighten Kiba's mood.

Off in the distance Kurenai spotted her team and made her way towards them. She had been called into the Hokage's office for a jounin meeting to discuss the current situation and now that the meeting was over she was out looking for her team. As she approached her team she saw Kiba cradling something in his arms while Hinata and Shino looked on intently. So Kiba got his new dog already? Kurenai had been in contact with Tsume, Kiba's mom, and had been informed that Kiba would be left to raise another nin dog; she was just surprised it had happened so soon, she wasn't sure Kiba was mentally ready to raise another puppy.

"So who is this?" Kurenai said as casually as possible as she approached her team.

"H-hi, Kurenai," Kiba stammered, surprised by Kurenai's sudden appearance. "This is Shiromaru."

"He's pretty cute," Kurenai commented. She picked her words wisely, Kiba appeared to be in a pretty good mood and she didn't want to ruin it.

"Yeah..." Kiba replied. He wasn't quite sure if he liked all the attention he was getting because of Shiromaru. It was brining back memories when he had first gotten Akamaru and all the attention he had gotten when he brought Akamaru to the academy for the first time. How that time everyone had been coming up to him telling him how cute Akamaru was and how they all wanted to pet and hold him. He had loved the attention that time, as he was always liked being the center of attention, but this time it was just making him feel worse.

Sensing Kiba's worsening mood Kurenai tried to get the subject off of him, "We have a mission tomorrow. Since the war has started we have been given patrol duty every around Konoha every other day assuming we aren't on another mission."

Shino and Hinata both nodded in acknowledgment but Kiba remained quite. He wasn't quite sure if he was ready to go on a mission quite yet. He had just gotten Shiromaru and he had hoped he would be able to train with him at least a little longer before they went on a mission. On top of that he wasn't quite sure if he personally was ready for a mission. He was still out of practice from not being able to train for more then a month. He also was still a little injured from his last encounter.

"Kiba, if you're not ready you don't have to go, we can find a replacement member for the time being," Kurenai informed Kiba, noticing his hesitant state.

Kiba nodded, still unsure of what he wanted to do.

"If you decide you're ready, meet us at the front gate tomorrow morning."

xx

It was getting late now. It was nearly midnight and Kiba hadn't been able to get to sleep. Growing tired of just sitting in bed, Kiba had ventured outside and found himself back at Akamaru's grave. Shiromaru had been awoken by Kiba's restlessness and had followed him outside. He was now curled up on the grass, sleeping at Kiba's feet.

Kiba shifted uneasily, still not sure what to do. Normally, he would jump at the opportunity to go on a mission, but now things were different. For the first time in his life he actually felt afraid. He wasn't afraid of death or anything like that, being a shinobi he was prepared to die at any moment. He was just afraid he would make the same mistakes again. He didn't think he could handle losing anyone else close to him.

Glancing down at Shiromaru, Kiba became even more turmoiled. He hadn't become as emotionally attached to him as he had been to Akamaru or his teammates, but he didn't think he could handle Shiromaru dieing even still. And Shiromaru was young, he wouldn't be able to fend for himself, Kiba would have to protect him. And right now Kiba wasn't feeling certain he could do that.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Kiba's mom asked as she approached, her dog, Kuromaru, at her side.

"Yeah, I guess," Kiba responded, "I couldn't sleep though."

"I could tell." Tsume stood next to Kiba now, staring at the mass grave as well. "So you have a mission tomorrow?"

"Maybe," Kiba replied quitely, still undecided on what to do.

"Maybe? What's that supposed to mean?" Tsume barked back.

"I-I'm not really sure if I'm ready to go on a mission," Kiba stammered back, sensing his mothers rage.

"Kiba, its been a month, are you planning on giving up being a Shinobi because of one mistake?"

"N-no, its just that I haven't been training and-"

"Have you really become this weak?" Tsume interupted.

"W-what do you mean?"

"One mistake and you're doubting yourself this much? You're only fifteen, as you get older you're going going to loose more people close to you, if you can't deal with it and learn from those losses, you might as well give up being a shinobi right now." Tsume yelled at her son. "A drug addiction? Weeks in rehab? All this because you can't get over one loss!"

"Who the hell are you to criticize me!" Kiba roared back, infuriated by his moms lack of compassion, "You haven't even been here the whole time!"

"Kiba, you know as well as I do that a shinobi has to put their job before their family, even if they don't want to," Tsume retorted. "but nonetheless you haven't been handling this the right way. You can't be blaming yourself for everything and start becoming self destructive as well. You've been hurting yourself as well as the ones important to you. You know you don't want this for yourself, Akamaru wouldn't want this for you."

Kiba gritted his teeth, not quite sure how to respond to this. He knew what he had been doing hadn't been helping anyone and he didn't want to feel this down all the time. He also knew that if Akamaru were still alive he would never let Kiba act the way he had. Akamaru wouldn't want him to destroy his life just because he was gone.

"So Kiba, are you going on that mission tomorrow?" Tsume asked again, hoping her son had come to his senses.

"I guess," Kiba murmured. He still wasn't completely sure of himself but he knew he couldn't go living the rest of his life in fear that he would lose someone important to him. "But, do you think you could watch Shiromaru tomorrow, I don't think he's ready to go on a mission."

"Kiba..." Tsume muttered.

Kiba just looked forward at Akamaru's grave, still deep in thought.

"Kiba look at me," Tsume demanded. Kiba complied, turning to look his mother in the face.

Before Kiba could tell what happened he was on the ground, his mothers punch sending him crashing down onto his back.

"Have you not learned anything?" Tsume yelled.

Kiba rubbed the spot on his jaw where mother had hit him and wiped some blood the punch had caused from his mouth. "What the hell was that for," He growled.

"You can't go living the rest of your life trying to shelter and protect Shiromaru," Tsume barked back. "There's a possibility that he will die and you're just going to have to live with that. If you spend the rest of your life sheltering him to make sure nothing is going to happen to him you're just going to end up destroying both of your lives."

Kiba shakily stood up, still dazed from his mother's punch. "Yeah but..." Kiba started to say.

"No buts Kiba," Tsume interrupted. "If you can't learn to work together with Shiromaru and get over your fears then just give up now."

"Did you really have to hit me though..." Kiba muttered, still rubbing his sore jaw.

"Talking just doesn't seem to work with you," Tsume laughed back, "I just needed to knock some sense into you. You really are out of training though, letting yourself get hit by your old mother."

"Well I wasn't exactly expecting it," Kiba said, letting himself laugh a little at himself.

xx

The next morning Shino, Hinata and Kurenai waited by the front gate, waiting for their last two teammates. They still had five minutes before they had to leave for patrol duty and they all hoped their teammates would show before they had to depart.

"So do you think he's going to come?" Hinata asked her teammates. She was worried about her teammate. She just wanted things to go back to normal, she had liked Kiba so much more when he was the energetic and rambunctious boy he had been with Akamaru.

"Hey guys!" Kiba greeted rather energetically. He had gotten up early to walk Shiromaru and had crept up on his teammates.

"Good morning Kiba," Kurenai greeted in return. "You look different."

Kiba nodded, smiling widely for the first time in a long while. He had ditched his old black jacket in exchange for a looser fitting black sweatshirt, similar to the one he had worn when he was twelve. Shiromaru perched happily in the front of the jacket, only his head and tiny front paws sticking out.

"Good morning Kiba," Hinata greeted, blushing slightly, glad to see her teammate in a better mood.

"Hi Hinata," Kiba replied, beaming brightly at her. It felt kind of strange to be so happy given the circumstances, a war had started and most likely many people he knew and loved would soon die. But Kiba couldn't help by smile, he had finally come to terms with what had happened and now promised himself he wouldn't let Akamaru's death be in vein, even if one of the only things gained from it was a better understanding of how the world works.

"So Kiba, are you ready to go?" Shino asked. He was glad to see his teammate finally heal, although he didn't show the emotion.

"Yeah, let's go.

* * *

Well thats the end! I don't really like how I ended this chapter, I like the last chapters ending more. I just didn't know how to end it so I stopped it here.

I hope you enjoyed reading this fic, all feedback is appreciated. I'd also really appreciate if you check out my other fic "The Last Hokage". I feel I'm getting better at writing so hopefully that fic will be better then this one :).


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